negative1 Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Got my numskull Quarter scale - Dig Dug machine. Unboxing: Gameplay up to a million: Review : later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 contra pocket player is out: https://www.myarcadegaming.com/collections/featured-products/products/bubble-bobble-pocket-player yes, i know the link says bubble bobble: CONTRA Pocket Player™ Includes fully playable arcade versions of Konami’s run-and-gun classics, CONTRA and SUPER CONTRA. Features My Arcade’s CO/VSTM Technology which allows you to link your Pocket Player with a friend’s for co-op play. Includes 2 games, arcade version of Contra and Super Contra. Allows for CO-VSTM functionality for co-op action (CO-VSTM cable included). 2.75” full color backlit display. Powered by either 4 AA batteries or by any Micro-USB cable (not included). Built-in front facing speaker, volume control and 3.5mm headphone jack. Compact size and included lanyard make for perfect on-the-go gaming GAMES CONTRA -Run, jump, and shoot to defeat Red Falcon and his army. SUPER CONTRA- Defeat aliens and possessed comrades with new weapons and power ups. INCLUDED CONTRA Pocket Player™, CO/VS™ cable, lanyard, user guide ITEM NUMBER DGUNL-3281 UPC 845620032815 PACKAGING DIMENSIONS 6.50 x 5.25 x 1.75 in (W x H x D) PACKAGED WEIGHT 0.55 lb later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 review of contra pocket with link cable: later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) On 10/22/2020 at 4:29 PM, Zoyous said: Oh, okay. Do you ever use a mousewheel? Or do you need a giant wheel to scroll? ? I'm telling you man, the trackball is incredibly accurate. Anyway, I can't deny these are mostly to look at. But they are playable. Sorry, but i can't agree, maybe my unit isn't as accurate, but i had constant problems using the trackball and fire button. ============================================================================= i got the replicade centipede 2 weeks ago. due to work and other things. i have been playing it on and off during that time. there's nothing to note about the cabinet or the game, that hasn't been said already, by pretty much everyone: 1) quality - excellent 2) artwork - excellent 3) sound - very good 4) price - expensive 5) weight - light for its size 6) trackball - pea sized 2 things to note: i think default out of the box, is the initial version a) apparently there is a battery draining issue if you go through these steps : https://newwavetoys.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/43000391180-centipede-trak-ball-firmware- update-detailed-instructions i did NOT do this. =========================================================== ergonomics - terrible, this is a toy, meant to be put on a shelf and looked at and not played seriously start buttons - miniscule fire button - miniscule trackball - tiny spacing - is scale to arcade, but here, feels very cramped, and for an adult trying to use the 'trackball' is futile, because your fingers have no place to rest ============================================================== gameplay thoughts -------------------------------------------------- week 1 =============================================================== i had a ton of problems trying to figure out how to hold it in a way to play it, and could never get comfortable. sometimes my right hand couldn't quite move the trackball quickly enough. other times, my left fingers couldn't fire it fast enough. i got to 100k, which takes several minutes, and at the end of the week, i hit a wall at 200k, which takes about 50+ minutes. luckily you can pause the game using the settings, but you lose momentum, and its hard to pick up where you leave off. my fingers and hands were completely cramped, so i had to give up for the next day or two. week 2 ================================================================ played the same way as from last week, but found a slightly more comfortable grip for the left fingers, and firing. had several more 200k games, but finally played for a few hours and got to 640k. i had to pause every half hour using the settings, because there's no way you can play the game constantly without issues. will probably max it out at 999k i hope, but since hand cramps constantly, will have to wait. Got to 640k : Verdict : you can play games that range from 5 min-30 min easily, but if you think you can last longer, you will have to play in spurts, and pause the game game constantly trackball - the trackball is not adequate AT ALL, it is hard to move, hard to be precise (the middle setting is as good as it gets), and you will be overshooting your spot constantly. the light weight of the machine makes it move when you're trying to play, which also makes your shooting imprecise. ISSUES - THE BUTTON IS THE WEAKEST PART OF THE MACHINE, CONSTANTLY NOT REGISTERING, and DID NOT RESPOND WELL AT ALL. Final thoughts: ======================= THE BUTTONS AND TRACKBALL ARE TERRIBLE and make the game unplayable for experts, because you will constantly be pausing, and your hands will be cramping the whole time using them. is it worth the money to play. NO WAY, not for $100-$120, but for a 'TOY' to put on a shelf, maybe $50 -$75. later -1 Edited December 20, 2020 by negative1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyous Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 10 hours ago, negative1 said: Sorry, but i can't agree, maybe my unit isn't as accurate, but i had constant problems using the trackball and fire button. Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Still, it's incredible that you can rack up over 600,000 points. It makes sense that if you're playing at that high a level for those amounts of time, ergonomics would be the top priority. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Zoyous said: Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Still, it's incredible that you can rack up over 600,000 points. It makes sense that if you're playing at that high a level for those amounts of time, ergonomics would be the top priority. it's not that the parts are defective. they are not used to the usage of being moved or pushed thousands of times in one game. a regular button could withstand that usually, but these tiny mechanisms are not meant to be pushed that many times in several hours, so they are not going to hold up. same with the trackball, every single millimeter in movement of it, has to translate to pixels on the screen accurately and quickly with response time. so if its off a little bit, you will die constantly. i'm just surprised that even in short games, that people keep saying its accurate. i tried sitting and playing, lying down, and then i tried putting it up high, to stand and play it (looked funny), and then i tried hunching over, and every single time it was just too inconvenient to play it. eventually i found a really uncomfortable way to play, but as i said you have to keep taking breaks when playing it. ANYWAYS, the bottom line is it looks great on a shelf, don't expect to break any records as usual with these miniature machines. the dig dug 1/4 scale is better, because it's bigger, and it uses a joystick, which translates much better when using it on such a tiny machine. trackball and spinner games are an absolute disaster, and missile command will be also, when that comes out. later -1 Edited December 20, 2020 by negative1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I mean come on was there ever even a question whether a tiny arcade toy machine would even pass muster, aside from casual play? If you're going to be talking about "records" in games, that just means the original arcade game, by default. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyous Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 3 hours ago, negative1 said: i'm just surprised that even in short games, that people keep saying its accurate. I stand by it. I have no problem moving with accuracy. But mine was purchased new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Zoyous said: I stand by it. I have no problem moving with accuracy. But mine was purchased new. mine was lightly used, again its not defective. it's just not very accurate on any of the settings. i'll post some videos showing the gameplay. later -1 Edited December 20, 2020 by negative1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 3 hours ago, NE146 said: I mean come on was there ever even a question whether a tiny arcade toy machine would even pass muster, aside from casual play? If you're going to be talking about "records" in games, that just means the original arcade game, by default. ? the replicade is a 1/6 scale or so cabinet, so it's not that tiny, like a 1/10 version like myarcade or basic fun, or a keychain version like tiny arcade. it just depends on the controls. the new sega astro mini has very decent controls compared to the snk mini, or the capcom mini. so it can be done, just don't scale things down to match. later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 It seems to strange to me that my unit seems to not have these issues, perhaps its just interpretation, but I don't seem to tire and the buttons seem to fire off on target all of the time. I thought the trackball was very accurate for me, I however do not play for long and that might be the issue here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 its not pretty, but its playable, glens prototype into the atgames competition. at the 11 min mark, he shows the trackball version playing centipede, which is actually playable along with missile command, and marble madness: later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 On 12/22/2020 at 10:18 AM, negative1 said: its not pretty, but its playable, glens prototype into the atgames competition. at the 11 min mark, he shows the trackball version playing centipede, which is actually playable along with missile command, and marble madness: later -1 I'm liking the paddle / steering wheel concept ..... I wish Arcade1Up or Basic Fun or Numbskull or ANYBODY would run with that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitMerge6502 Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Anyone have any luck finding a USB controller that works with the SEGA Astro City Mini cabinet? So far, I've tested: Several wired official Nintendo Switch controllers, Wii-U pro (using USB cable), Sega Genesis Mini (3 button USA), Turbo Grafx 16 Mini, Playstation Classic, various 8BitDo controllers (via USB dongle), RetroFlag (SNES & Megadrive both using D-input & X-input modes), RetroBit SEGA Genesis 6 button (two wired [blue/pink], & one wireless [black] via dongle), Mocute, and a few other generic Chinese USB SNES/NES controllers ("Next" branding). None of them appear to be compatible. I also tried a couple Powerpoint style wireless USB pointers, & a Logitech keyboard (just for the shell of it). As you can see from the extensive list above, I have quite a collection of USB controllers, and don't want to have to buy another if I can find an alternative. I also would prefer a SEGA Megadrive style over the Astro City controller for confort. I saw a YouTube video of someone using the Japanese Megadrive Mini 6 button USB controller, but seems suspicious to me as to why the North American 3 button or officially licensed 6 button controllers from RetroBit would not also be compatible. I've also thought about disassembling my Astro cab to test the USB power/data lines to see if they receive proper voltage & such. I know this was the case with the Playstation Classic, (A resistor had to be swapped). Curious to me why no other controller is being recognized at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 10 hours ago, BitMerge6502 said: Anyone have any luck finding a USB controller that works with the SEGA Astro City Mini cabinet? So far, I've tested: Several wired official Nintendo Switch controllers, Wii-U pro (using USB cable), Sega Genesis Mini (3 button USA), Turbo Grafx 16 Mini, Playstation Classic, various 8BitDo controllers (via USB dongle), RetroFlag (SNES & Megadrive both using D-input & X-input modes), RetroBit SEGA Genesis 6 button (two wired [blue/pink], & one wireless [black] via dongle), Mocute, and a few other generic Chinese USB SNES/NES controllers ("Next" branding). None of them appear to be compatible. I also tried a couple Powerpoint style wireless USB pointers, & a Logitech keyboard (just for the shell of it). As you can see from the extensive list above, I have quite a collection of USB controllers, and don't want to have to buy another if I can find an alternative. I also would prefer a SEGA Megadrive style over the Astro City controller for confort. I saw a YouTube video of someone using the Japanese Megadrive Mini 6 button USB controller, but seems suspicious to me as to why the North American 3 button or officially licensed 6 button controllers from RetroBit would not also be compatible. I've also thought about disassembling my Astro cab to test the USB power/data lines to see if they receive proper voltage & such. I know this was the case with the Playstation Classic, (A resistor had to be swapped). Curious to me why no other controller is being recognized at all. i don't know, but did you ask here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/308842-astro-city-mini/ later -1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoyous Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 11 hours ago, BitMerge6502 said: I saw a YouTube video of someone using the Japanese Megadrive Mini 6 button USB controller, but seems suspicious to me as to why the North American 3 button or officially licensed 6 button controllers from RetroBit would not also be compatible. My only guess is that it might be intended as a kind of region-locking? It is annoying because it seems like it would be fairly trivial to detect third party controllers. I got the arcade stick for the Astro City Mini, which is a considerable expense, but it also works as a plug-and-play controller with Windows so it might be worth it to you if you're in the market for an arcade stick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BitMerge6502 Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 8 hours ago, negative1 said: i don't know, but did you ask here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/308842-astro-city-mini/ later -1 Thanks, didn't know there was a dedicated thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 26, 2020 Share Posted December 26, 2020 (edited) well, although i'm still messing around with centipede replicade for a little bit longer, they will send you the USB upgrade cable free, if you register at their website. this only fixes the charging issue that the machine had: later -1 Edited December 26, 2020 by negative1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 well, sadly it looks like the replicade centipede was defective after all. the trackball stopped working. so i've contacted them, to see if they can fix it, or what the options are. later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 2 hours ago, negative1 said: well, sadly it looks like the replicade centipede was defective after all. the trackball stopped working. so i've contacted them, to see if they can fix it, or what the options are. later -1 I ordered the cable from them to update my centipede when it was originally offered and I plugged it in and ran it on my Windows 7 PC, it failed on updating the trackball and the trackball then no longer functioned at all, I basically bricked mine. I contacted them and they told me try it again on a Windows 10 machine. I tried it reluctantly on a Win 10 machine and it recognized my bricked trackball and upgraded properly. Once I did I was able to use it and I found it worked great. If you get the update, make sure you do it on a Win 10 machine and it hopefully will fix your issues. Good luck with it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 58 minutes ago, imstarryeyed said: I ordered the cable from them to update my centipede when it was originally offered and I plugged it in and ran it on my Windows 7 PC, it failed on updating the trackball and the trackball then no longer functioned at all, I basically bricked mine. I contacted them and they told me try it again on a Windows 10 machine. I tried it reluctantly on a Win 10 machine and it recognized my bricked trackball and upgraded properly. Once I did I was able to use it and I found it worked great. If you get the update, make sure you do it on a Win 10 machine and it hopefully will fix your issues. Good luck with it! thanks, i tried it with 8.1, and it got stuck saying 'into loader', and then quit. the trackball stopped working before i tried to update it. i then tried it on windows 10 computer, and this time the update ran, but failed to install. then when i tried it one more time, it got stuck 'into loader' message, and then nothing. thanks for the thought. later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imstarryeyed Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 15 hours ago, negative1 said: thanks, i tried it with 8.1, and it got stuck saying 'into loader', and then quit. the trackball stopped working before i tried to update it. i then tried it on windows 10 computer, and this time the update ran, but failed to install. then when i tried it one more time, it got stuck 'into loader' message, and then nothing. thanks for the thought. later -1 If you can try it on a few different Windows 10, hopefully it will work on one of them. I had to try it on 2 completely different computers until I found one that worked for me. Also check your cable, if your cable was made as awful as mine it may not be connecting completely. If you have a multimeter it might be a good idea to check all of the pins for any that might be touchy. I hope you can get it going soon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Hey speaking of firmware updates, I got the Replicade Tempest and I can't figure out if it's the latest firmware or not ... having said that it's quite playable anyway so should I just leave it as is or is the latest Tempest firmware worth the risk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
negative1 Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 2 hours ago, ComputerSpaceFan said: Hey speaking of firmware updates, I got the Replicade Tempest and I can't figure out if it's the latest firmware or not ... having said that it's quite playable anyway so should I just leave it as is or is the latest Tempest firmware worth the risk? i left mine as is, and almost hit 300k, so its fine for me. the only problem i have is the buttons are too small for precision. later -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 21 hours ago, negative1 said: i left mine as is, and almost hit 300k, so its fine for me. the only problem i have is the buttons are too small for precision. later -1 Good to know, I'm going to leave it be. Thanks man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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