One thing that really bothers me...

[Damon Plus]

is that system doesn´t have a way to pause the games. It´s really bad when you´ve been playing to get an high score and you have to stop for a minute...

[Mindfield]

There's a Brazilian clone (I think it was a Dactar model) that was basically a re-labeled Coleco Gemini that featured a pause switch.

 

Which makes me wonder... how hard would it be to mod a 2600 to add in some electronics for a pause feature? I don't know much about this level of electronics, mind you, but it's obviously possible.

[sidcrowe]

It's been bothering ALL of us for decades

[chrisbid]

but endurance is part of the challenge. if todd rogers can play games for days at a time, then its only fair for us mortals to do the same

[Ralph3]

Better yet, make a slow-mo function as well, Kaboom in the higher levels moving at level 1 speed, imagine the new high scores showing up.

[Artlover]

... and you have to stop for a minute...

Just keep a bucket handy.

[sidcrowe]

Just keep a bucket handy.  

 

[Mindfield]

Better yet, make a slow-mo function as well, Kaboom in the higher levels moving at level 1 speed, imagine the new high scores showing up.

 

Well that's just cheating. Where's the fun in out-twitching the Mad Bomber at higher levels by giving him a shot of morphine? :-)

[Artlover]

Just keep a bucket handy.  

 

 

Bathroom break.

 

(I once peed out a window while in the middle of a marathon game of Defender. In retrospect, a bucket would have been better, but thats probably more then you wanted to know. )

[CPUWIZ]

I once peed out a window while in the middle of a marathon game of Defender.

 

LMAO

[Mindfield]

I once peed out a window

 

I can only imagine how that must have hurt.

[CPUWIZ]

Which makes me wonder... how hard would it be to mod a 2600 to add in some electronics for a pause feature?

 

I just did some research on this, it is possible to make a little mod-kit to pause the 2600. However, the screen will most likely go blank while it is paused. I'll do some experiments tommorow and see if it works properly.

 

Would anyone be interested in something like that if it works properly?

[Artlover]

I just did some research on this, it is possible to make a little mod-kit to pause the 2600. However, the screen will most likely go blank while it is paused. I'll do some experiments tommorow and see if it works properly.  

 

Would anyone be interested in something like that if it works properly?  

 

If it was easy enough, sure.

 

I don't see the screen going blank as a problem. The game's paused and not playing, so why do you need to still see it? Besides, it would prevent screen burn-in.

[keilbaca]

Actually, I was going to figure out how to do the pause switch and add it to my modified light sixer, but I just don't know where to start... CPUWIZ, I know already that the pause feature makes the screen goes black, I am VERY interested!

[keilbaca]

And the Atari it is on is the Onyx Jr. I was going to buy one and figure out the pause feature, and it said about the black screen when it becomes paused, it cuts out a clock (I think) to stop the processes to the stella chip, if i'm not mistaken.

[Albert]

(I once peed out a window while in the middle of a marathon game of Defender. In retrospect, a bucket would have been better, but thats probably more then you wanted to know.   )

 

Was the window open?

 

The Atari 2600 was pretty advanced for its time, considering the "state of the art" for game systems back then. It had detachable controllers, several different types of controllers (joysticks, paddles, driving controllers, keypads), swappable software in the form of cartridges, and so forth. A pause button would have been nice, certainly, and Atari did add one with their next generation system (the 5200), something that was continued onto the 7800 and Lynx.

 

..Al

[Bryan]

I just did some research on this, it is possible to make a little mod-kit to pause the 2600. However, the screen will most likely go blank while it is paused. I'll do some experiments tommorow and see if it works properly.

 

If you're going to try to stop the clock, it probably won't work. I've found that many MOS designs do not support static operation due to a space saving shortcut which relies on temporary capacitive charges that fade after a few microseconds. You can see this trick in the TIA schematics (detoted by an asterisk) and it will prevent you from being able to stop the clock.

 

Possibly a way to do it would be to somehow stop the vblank timer, so the game keeps waiting to start the next frame.

 

-Bry

[keilbaca]

Its something to that nature, because the onyx jr says that when it pauses, the screen goes black, and when it resumes, you will have a frame or two distorted, then it is back to normal.

[sidcrowe]

I once peed out a window

 

That would've fit in nicely in a past issue of Next Generation magazine which had a feature on "hardcore" stories

[keilbaca]

Talking about todd, how in the world does he play his 48 hr marathons, along with his 82 hr journey escape marathon?!?!?!?! The only thing I can think of is he sets up his tv and atari inside of his bathroom and goes whenever needed....

[sidcrowe]

One word: Diapers.

 

3 diapers all put on at once. It's not a pretty sight, and it doesn't smell too good, but as Anthony Robbins says, "Whatever it takes."

[Mindfield]

Halting the vblank timer sounds very possible. I doubt it would be possible to pause with the display active as that would modifying the game kernal to keep jsr-ing in an infinite loop through the same frame, and since that changes from game to game, that'd likely be impossible.

 

Is there a specific line for vblank on TIA? If so then it should be possible to make a toggle switch to shunt it to a few added components to send it into an infinite loop until the original circuit is restored.

 

Or I could just be talking out my bum.

[Synthead]

I have a gut feeling that if you break connection to a certian pin of a chip off either the TIA or the 6502, it'll malfunction in a way that it would "pause". Perhaps even messing with the frequency crystals would do it. But I'm not about to try that stuff until I know more or someone else does

[D.Yancey]

Talking about todd, how in the world does he play his 48 hr marathons, along with his 82 hr journey escape marathon?!?!?!?! The only thing I can think of is he sets up his tv and atari inside of his bathroom and goes whenever needed....

 

Some of those games have points where they stop; like between rounds or just after a life is lost. Others allow you to build up so many extra lives that you can take a short break without losing the entire game. Still others have safe spots on the playfield where you can position your ship/man so as not to lose lives while "doing your business". But some are just downright "hard core" and that's when you need a foley cath.

[Artlover]

Which makes me wonder... how hard would it be to mod a 2600 to add in some electronics for a pause feature?

 

I just did some research on this, it is possible to make a little mod-kit to pause the 2600. However, the screen will most likely go blank while it is paused. I'll do some experiments tommorow and see if it works properly.

 

Would anyone be interested in something like that if it works properly?

What ever became of this?