Jump to content
IGNORED

Comprehensive Plug-and-Play Listing


onmode-ky

Recommended Posts

Could they possibly be any less ergonomic? My hands hurt just looking at the pictures.

 

It is aesthetics over functionality, but I personally found if you play it on a flat surface, the controls are actually quite nice. It's when you try to hold it like an old Atari joystick that you run into some trouble with the weird edges.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there any difference between the BanDai Namco collection (Pac-Man Connect and Play with PacMan256) and the 35th anniversary edition?

They look identical to my untrained eyes so is it only the outer packaging box that is different?

I'm not aware of any differences other than the box. In fact, I suspect at least some of the 35th Anniversary Edition copies might literally be re-packaged original-run copies.

 

How about the AU version inside a ghost case instead of pacman?

I've never even seen (or heard of) that before, so thank you for sharing! Based on what's written on the cover and the content description at the URL, it seems to be the same material as in the Pac-Man form factor.

 

Also, I have to say, that packaging is pretty bad. A plain dark square, so as not to catch a prospective buyer's eye! Still, it's kind of interesting that they even made another form factor. I suppose, then, that a true Pac-Man collector would have to get both a local copy and an import.

 

It is aesthetics over functionality, but I personally found if you play it on a flat surface, the controls are actually quite nice. It's when you try to hold it like an old Atari joystick that you run into some trouble with the weird edges.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help in my case, because whenever I play a plug-n-play system like this on a flat surface, I'm still gripping it tightly and pressing down, to try to keep the unit from moving around. Thus, those sharp edges still dig into my claws. I'm just too intense with arcade games. :)

 

Incidentally, there is still no ESRB rating for anything this year from Jakks Pacific. In the recent past, this part of the year was when the ratings for a given year's Jakks plug-n-play products would be posted. It's beginning to look like this will be their first year sitting out the modern plug-n-play market since they started it. So far, what we know is planned to come in the way of plug-n-play game systems for 2016 are:

 

- AtGames Atari Flashback 7

- AtGames Atari Flashback Portable

- AtGames Sega Genesis CGC (2016 edition)

- AtGames Sega Genesis Portable (2016 edition)

- Retro Computers Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+

- Retro-Bit Generations

 

onmode-ky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I assume by now everyone's heard of this...

 

http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/14/12193472/mini-nes-classic-edition-faq-nintendo

 

After skipping the Colecovision and Intellivision ones last year (shocking to even me) because I have no more tube displays in my home except my still-working Vectrex, the inclusion of HDMI in this one appeals to me. Is anyone aware of any other plug'n'plays with HDMI outputs, or am I just gonna have to duct tape my Raspberry Pi to my USB repro Atari stick?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I assume by now everyone's heard of this...

 

http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/14/12193472/mini-nes-classic-edition-faq-nintendo

 

After skipping the Colecovision and Intellivision ones last year (shocking to even me) because I have no more tube displays in my home except my still-working Vectrex, the inclusion of HDMI in this one appeals to me. Is anyone aware of any other plug'n'plays with HDMI outputs, or am I just gonna have to duct tape my Raspberry Pi to my USB repro Atari stick?

 

There's this: http://retro-bit.com/generations.html

 

AtGames will also have some announcements to make.

 

Even though it's technically not a TV game console and relatively expensive, I highly recommend the Retro Freak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

2016 is wrapping up as a significant year in plug-n-play games, with Nintendo entering the market, Jakks Pacific seemingly doing the opposite, HDMI appearing for the first time, the long-awaited arrival of an Atari Flashback Portable (included because of its TV-out capability), and the first appearance of games that need save support (e.g., RPGs). There is some strange stuff going on to close out the year, though; in this post, S1500 wrote about a Frogger-only system appearing at Target. At the time, I thought he must be talking about some really old leftover stock of Majesco's 2004 Frogger-only system, but as my own stop at a Target store revealed, he was not.

 

On the new retro gaming shelves in the video games section, next to the space allocated to AtGames, I found a Frogger plug-n-play system and a Space Invaders plug-n-play system. Both were labeled as having come from MSI Entertainment, and both had a date stamp of 092016. This was odd, because the Frogger unit looked identical to the 2004 Majesco system, and so did its packaging shape; moreover, the Space Invaders unit looked almost identical to the 2011 Jakks Pacific Taito 12-in-1 system (different shape to the buttons and joystick knob), and its packaging shape was strongly reminiscent of that release as well (but different coloring). What the heck?

 

Further oddities appeared when I examined the packaging of each unit. The Frogger unit had no mention of Konami anywhere (or anything at all relating to Frogger copyright). The Space Invaders unit had a big Taito logo on its box, in contrast, whose byline almost made it sound like Taito themselves were the producer. No other games were mentioned on the Space Invaders box, despite the system looking a whole lot like Jakks' 12-games model from 2011. The Jakks system's packaging made specific mention of using Code Mystics' FOCAL emulation engine, but no such notice is on MSI's box. So maybe it really isn't the same thing as what it resembles?

 

Reproducing Majesco's 2004 Frogger unit doesn't seem too difficult. That one was NOAC-based and had a generic form factor for the joystick (seen on some unbranded Chinese plug-n-play systems) to begin with. Also, MSI Entertainment was founded, in 2009, by Majesco's founder and former CEO, so there was a relationship that could have been leveraged. It's a bit more complex to reproduce Jakks' 2011 Taito system, though. Not only did that use a Jakks-original form factor and packaging shape, it also ran on a 16-bit, unSP-architecture Generalplus GPL16250 chip, powerful enough that it was the only Jakks retro gaming TV Games unit to utilize full-on emulation. I'm not saying it wouldn't be used in a $20 system--the 2011 Taito unit was ~$20, too--but it's not quite the "commodity" chip that NOACs are. Pair that with the absence of any other games being mentioned on the MSI Space Invaders box, and it seems like maybe that one is strictly a reuse of the Jakks' system's looks, not its guts/software.

 

Anyway, unless the ZX Vega+ surprises everyone and actually sees release in the next two weeks, here is 2016's plug-n-play games slate, remarkably all-retro:

 

- AtGames Atari Flashback Portable (59 2600 games, 1 arcade remake, SD card slot)

- AtGames Atari Flashback 7 (99 2600 games, 2 arcade remakes)

- AtGames Sega Genesis CGC (2016 edition; 39 Genesis games)

- AtGames Sega Genesis Portable (2016 edition; 39 Genesis games, SD card slot)

- Nintendo NES Classic Edition (30 NES games)

- Nintendo Classic Mini Famicom (Japan; 30 Famicom games)

- Retro-Bit Generations (5 arcade games, 48 NES/Famicom games, 29 SNES/SFC games, 8 Genesis/MD games, 11 Game Boy games, 3 GBA games)

- MSI Entertainment Frogger (1 arcade game?)

- MSI Entertainment Space Invaders (1 arcade game?)

 

There's also at least one generic multi-game handheld from Dreamgear this year that can plug into a TV, but I've officially stopped tracking the generic systems.

 

onmode-ky

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No other games were mentioned on the Space Invaders box, despite the system looking a whole lot like Jakks' 12-games model from 2011. The Jakks system's packaging made specific mention of using Code Mystics' FOCAL emulation engine, but no such notice is on MSI's box. So maybe it really isn't the same thing as what it resembles?

 

[...] it seems like maybe that one is strictly a reuse of the Jakks' system's looks, not its guts/software.

An addendum to yesterday's post: I came across a recent YouTube video today in which someone demonstrates the MSI Entertainment Space Invaders unit. It's just Space Invaders alone. Upon powering on the system, it shows an MSI logo, shows a Taito logo, and then goes directly to Space Invaders. It's definitely a port, too, not an emulation, given the aspect ratio, video, and sound differences from the original. I'd guess that the system runs on the same hardware as whatever MSI is using in its Frogger unit (which, again, I think might be a NOAC, given MSI's Majesco roots), since that would simplify their supply chain. Of course, it would also simplify their supply chain if they didn't go out of their way to make a facsimile of the casing from Jakks Pacific's 2011 Taito unit (which I incorrectly described above as having 12 games; it's 10 games). Really, there's no point in having two buttons, both on the same side of the stick, when your only content is Space Invaders.

 

In 2004, you could have spent $20 and gotten Frogger, alone, on a plug-n-play system. It's 12 years later, and you can now spend $20 and get either Frogger or Space Invaders, alone, on a plug-n-play system. Ah, the march of progress. If you're really willing to spend $40 for arcade-ish Frogger and Space Invaders ports, just get an Atari Flashback 7 instead; it's on the same shelf at Target, and you'll get both of those games, plus 99 2600 games.

 

onmode-ky

 

Edit: I neglected to mention that the MSI Space Invaders unit uses 3 AA batteries, rather than the 4 commonly used by Jakks' systems.

Edited by onmode-ky
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

And, if anyone has a hot tip on where to get Taito Nostalgia 1 & 2 for cheap, let me know.

Back in June 2015, when I got my own copies of Namco Nostalgia 1 & 2 for cheap and wrote a long post about them and how to run them in lieu of the original proprietary power/AV cable, I didn't really think I'd ever manage to get copies of either of the other two systems in the Let's! TV Play Classic series, Taito Nostalgia 1 & 2. At the time, the going prices were beyond both my budget and interest, even higher than the going prices that I'd managed to undercut for the Namco Nostalgia systems. Fast forward a little over two years, and I now have my own Taito Nostalgia 2 system. :o There was a guy selling new old stock of them on Yahoo! Japan Auctions for a while in the past few months, always with a starting bid of only 1600 yen--which usually ended up being the final price, too, whenever they actually sold (there really isn't that much demand for them these days). That's a significantly better price than eBay sellers' demands of well over $50 (usually with free, but slow and untracked, shipping from Japan), sometimes over $100. In September/early October, I used a bidding proxy for the first time (ZenMarket.jp, if you're curious, and I was quite satisfied with their service), and I won a 1600-yen copy of Taito 2, along with 2 other, non-gaming YJA auctions, and had them shipped to me via DHL Direct (with tracking, and only took a week, plus cost less than Japan Post Airmail). So now, not only do I have 3/4 of Bandai's 2006 plug-n-play series, but I have the one I wanted the most, the one with vertically scrolling Toaplan shooter Slap Fight! And by my accounting for the overall YJA shipment, Taito 2 only cost me $25.62, roughly 40% of which was paid for by funds I got from selling something I'd received for free! What a deal! Well, admittedly still not as good a deal as my Namco Nostalgia pair.

 

There was another YJA seller putting up new old stock of Taito Nostalgia 1 for bids, but I always seemed to only see them after they had already sold (for cheap, like 1500 yen); I think his listings may have all only been 24-hour ones. Still, I'm not too concerned, even knowing that Taito 1 has historically been the rarest/priciest of the Let's! TV Play Classic series' four systems. Taito 2 was the one in the series I most wanted, whereas Taito 1's games, The Legend of Kage and Gladiator/Golden Castle (and their respective remixes) didn't really interest me (also, I've had The Legend of Kage in plug-n-play format since 2011, in Jakks Pacific's 10-in-1 Taito system). I have to admit that I'd like to see Taito 1's manual, though. The Taito models' manuals have a mini-manga by mangaka Zakkun Pop, who is also the illustrator for the Taito models' alternate faceplates.

 

I haven't actually played my new acquisition yet, but I found the packaging amusing and wanted to share some photos. Check out the imagery on the boxes' various flaps (Taito Nostalgia 2 is the blue box). For reference, here's the content of each Let's! TV Play Classic system, as copy-pasted from my plug-n-play data files:

 

namco nostalgia 1 - xevious, xevious: scramble mission (remix of original), mappy, mappy: nyamco-dan no gyakushuu (remix of original)

namco nostalgia 2 - gaplus, gaplus phalanx (remix of original), dragon buster, dragon buster 100 (remix of original)

taito nostalgia 1 - kage no densetsu, kage no densetsu kaiden (remix of original), ougon no shiro, ougon no shiro amazones (remix of original)

taito nostalgia 2 - kiki kaikai, kiki kaikai kakurenbou (remix of original), slap fight, slap fight tiger (remix of original)

 

post-8302-0-63666300-1509330511_thumb.jpg

post-8302-0-33376300-1509330533_thumb.jpg

post-8302-0-66922500-1509330557_thumb.jpg

post-8302-0-29717300-1509330585_thumb.jpg

 

Also, here's a photo of the manga by Zakkun Pop that's on the last page of the Taito Nostalgia 2 manual, held open by the system itself, sporting the faceplate illustrated by Zakkun Pop:

 

post-8302-0-74506000-1509330744_thumb.jpg

 

Note that it reads from top to bottom, starting from the right and going left. Here's what's going on:

 

- Title - Sayo-chan (the player character in KiKi KaiKai) Picks Up a Sparkling Star (as you do in Slap Fight)

- Panel 1 - [sayo-chan whacks an enemy] "Ey!"

- Panel 2 - [star left behind by defeated enemy sits sparkling on the ground] "Huh?"

- Panel 3 - [sayo-chan picks up the star; *SPARKLE*]

- Panel 4 - [sayo-chan is suddenly flanked by weird little guys, like a Slap Fight Wing formation] "Ack! Huh? What's this? Are these like Options [the helper orbs from Gradius]?"

- Panel 5 - [sFX: DRAAAAAAGGGG] "You're so heavy!!! Don't you guys attack or anything?"

- Panel 6 - [boss appears] "I'm the Boss, yo!"

- Panel 7 - "Wai-wait, what are you doing hiding?! Hey! Stop pushing! Heeey!!"

- Panel 8 - [boss defeated] "I'm tiiiiired." "I'm huuuungry." "Go home, to the afterlife." [KiKi KaiKai deals with spirits]

 

I thought that was a rather cute mix of KiKi KaiKai and Slap Fight elements into one mini-story.

 

onmode-ky

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Back in June 2015, when I got my own copies of Namco Nostalgia 1 & 2 for cheap and wrote a long post about them and how to run them in lieu of the original proprietary power/AV cable, I didn't really think I'd ever manage to get copies of either of the other two systems in the Let's! TV Play Classic series, Taito Nostalgia 1 & 2. At the time, the going prices were beyond both my budget and interest, even higher than the going prices that I'd managed to undercut for the Namco Nostalgia systems. Fast forward a little over two years, and I now have my own Taito Nostalgia 2 system. :o There was a guy selling new old stock of them on Yahoo! Japan Auctions for a while in the past few months, always with a starting bid of only 1600 yen--which usually ended up being the final price, too, whenever they actually sold (there really isn't that much demand for them these days). That's a significantly better price than eBay sellers' demands of well over $50 (usually with free, but slow and untracked, shipping from Japan), sometimes over $100. In September/early October, I used a bidding proxy for the first time (ZenMarket.jp, if you're curious, and I was quite satisfied with their service), and I won a 1600-yen copy of Taito 2, along with 2 other, non-gaming YJA auctions, and had them shipped to me via DHL Direct (with tracking, and only took a week, plus cost less than Japan Post Airmail). So now, not only do I have 3/4 of Bandai's 2006 plug-n-play series, but I have the one I wanted the most, the one with vertically scrolling Toaplan shooter Slap Fight! And by my accounting for the overall YJA shipment, Taito 2 only cost me $25.62, roughly 40% of which was paid for by funds I got from selling something I'd received for free! What a deal! Well, admittedly still not as good a deal as my Namco Nostalgia pair.

 

There was another YJA seller putting up new old stock of Taito Nostalgia 1 for bids, but I always seemed to only see them after they had already sold (for cheap, like 1500 yen); I think his listings may have all only been 24-hour ones. Still, I'm not too concerned, even knowing that Taito 1 has historically been the rarest/priciest of the Let's! TV Play Classic series' four systems. Taito 2 was the one in the series I most wanted, whereas Taito 1's games, The Legend of Kage and Gladiator/Golden Castle (and their respective remixes) didn't really interest me (also, I've had The Legend of Kage in plug-n-play format since 2011, in Jakks Pacific's 10-in-1 Taito system). I have to admit that I'd like to see Taito 1's manual, though. The Taito models' manuals have a mini-manga by mangaka Zakkun Pop, who is also the illustrator for the Taito models' alternate faceplates.

 

I haven't actually played my new acquisition yet, but I found the packaging amusing and wanted to share some photos. Check out the imagery on the boxes' various flaps (Taito Nostalgia 2 is the blue box). For reference, here's the content of each Let's! TV Play Classic system, as copy-pasted from my plug-n-play data files:

 

namco nostalgia 1 - xevious, xevious: scramble mission (remix of original), mappy, mappy: nyamco-dan no gyakushuu (remix of original)

namco nostalgia 2 - gaplus, gaplus phalanx (remix of original), dragon buster, dragon buster 100 (remix of original)

taito nostalgia 1 - kage no densetsu, kage no densetsu kaiden (remix of original), ougon no shiro, ougon no shiro amazones (remix of original)

taito nostalgia 2 - kiki kaikai, kiki kaikai kakurenbou (remix of original), slap fight, slap fight tiger (remix of original)

 

attachicon.gifDSCN5020.rotated.JPG

attachicon.gifDSCN5021.rotated.JPG

attachicon.gifDSCN5022.rotated.JPG

attachicon.gifDSCN5023.rotated.JPG

 

Also, here's a photo of the manga by Zakkun Pop that's on the last page of the Taito Nostalgia 2 manual, held open by the system itself, sporting the faceplate illustrated by Zakkun Pop:

 

attachicon.gifDSCN5025.rotated.JPG

 

Note that it reads from top to bottom, starting from the right and going left. Here's what's going on:

 

- Title - Sayo-chan (the player character in KiKi KaiKai) Picks Up a Sparkling Star (as you do in Slap Fight)

- Panel 1 - [sayo-chan whacks an enemy] "Ey!"

- Panel 2 - [star left behind by defeated enemy sits sparkling on the ground] "Huh?"

- Panel 3 - [sayo-chan picks up the star; *SPARKLE*]

- Panel 4 - [sayo-chan is suddenly flanked by weird little guys, like a Slap Fight Wing formation] "Ack! Huh? What's this? Are these like Options [the helper orbs from Gradius]?"

- Panel 5 - [sFX: DRAAAAAAGGGG] "You're so heavy!!! Don't you guys attack or anything?"

- Panel 6 - [boss appears] "I'm the Boss, yo!"

- Panel 7 - "Wai-wait, what are you doing hiding?! Hey! Stop pushing! Heeey!!"

- Panel 8 - [boss defeated] "I'm tiiiiired." "I'm huuuungry." "Go home, to the afterlife." [KiKi KaiKai deals with spirits]

 

I thought that was a rather cute mix of KiKi KaiKai and Slap Fight elements into one mini-story.

 

onmode-ky

Man I'd love to buy these sets! I've been doing a TON of plug & play gameplays on my Youtube channel and these would be awesome,lol!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man I'd love to buy these sets! I've been doing a TON of plug & play gameplays on my Youtube channel and these would be awesome,lol!

They're prohibitively expensive on eBay, but if you look for them on Yahoo! Japan Auctions like I did, you might be able to find them cheaply (depending on your definition of "cheap"). For example, right now, I see this auction, with 3 days left, asking 5000 yen for a used set of all four boxed, plus the proprietary AV/power cable. That's not that bad (you'd also have to add in an unknown amount for domestic shipping, then your proxy/forwarding service's fee (300 yen per auction in the case of ZenMarket.jp), then international shipping, which I'd estimate at $15 to $20). If you want to search for other listings, go to https://auctions.yahoo.co.jpand copy-paste these into the search field:

 

let's tvプレイ

 

and

 

let'stvプレイ

 

(sellers sometimes leave out the space). Those search terms will actually bring up results beyond the four Classic products, but just use your eyeballs to filter out the non-Classics; it's not worth going through the permutations of with and without spaces.

 

Incidentally, I saw your YouTube overview of MSI Entertainment's Ms. Pac-Man unit. The reason it has two buttons is because it really is a low-effort product; the form factor MSI used for their Space Invaders system last year and the Ms. Pac-Man this year is a reuse of the form factor Jakks Pacific used in their final two retro TV Games systems, namely their fifth Namco ("Retro Arcade featuring Pac-Man"), from 2009--actually maybe late 2008--and their Taito system ("Retro Arcade featuring Space Invaders"), from 2011. MSI must have gotten their hands on Jakks' molds for their old system shells. In Jakks' systems, at least some of the included games did use two buttons, but MSI happens to be using those shells for games which don't. Thus, both buttons do the same thing on the MSI games. By the way, Jakks did let their Namco license lapse after 2009, which is how Namco Bandai came to release their own plug-n-play system, the Pac-Man Connect-and-Play, through toy division Bandai America in 2012 and 2015.

 

Back on MSI, all three of their released plug-n-play systems have been low-effort releases. Their Frogger last year was basically a re-release of the Frogger-only unit that now-defunct Majesco released in 2004, not only using the same form factor, but even using the same packaging (FYI, the founder of MSI also founded Majesco, back in 1986). All three of their releases have been built on cheaply available NES-on-a-chip technology, allowing them to release (with minor title screen text changes) existing NES/Famicom ports. So, reused shell molds, cheap guts, cheap software "development" . . . and $25 MSRP for single-game systems. Smells like cash grab to me. In contrast, Jakks Pacific's systems almost all had their software built from the ground up, actual newly coded ports to then-modern microcontroller architectures. The only total exception was the 2011 Taito system, which had emulation specialists Code Mystics port their emulation code to the Generalplus architecture that Jakks used; that system runs original arcade binaries on the emulator.

 

Looking at 2017 plug-n-play games in general, we've now had almost all known projects released. The following is basically a copy-paste of what I posted at the PSPMinis.com forum, but here's what's already out, roughly in chronological order of release (anything listed as "handheld" or "portable" is in this list because it has TV-out capability):

  • Wisdom Tree/Piko Interactive - Arkade (7-in-1 of Wisdom Tree NES games)
  • Dreamgear - Pixel Player (handheld whose contents include 8 Data East NES games)
  • Dreamgear - Pixel Classic (handheld whose contents include 8 Data East NES games)
  • Basic Fun/The Bridge Direct - Atari 2600 (NES-on-a-chip 10-in-1 running NES remakes of 2600 and 7800 games, and of one Intellivision game masquerading as a 2600 game)
  • AtGames - Atari Flashback Portable (2017 edition)
  • AtGames - Atari Flashback 8 (SD model)
  • AtGames - Sega Genesis 81-in-1 Classic Gaming Console (SD model)
  • AtGames - Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable (2017 edition)
  • Nintendo - SNES Classic Edition/Classic Mini SNES
  • Nintendo - Classic Mini Super Famicom (Japan-exclusive)
  • MSI Entertainment - Ms. Pac-Man (title screen hack of existing NES/FC port)
  • AtGames - Atari Flashback 8 Gold (HD model)
  • Jnnex - Retro-Bit Generations II (Japan-exclusive)
  • AtGames - Atari Flashback 8 Gold Activision Edition (HD model; drops the Taito, Konami, and Good Deal Games (homebrew) titles and adds more Activision ones (M-Network titles stay))
  • AtGames - Sega Genesis Flashback (HD model; includes several Master System and Game Gear games, too)
I have game lists (in order as presented on the actual systems) recorded for all of the above except the Generations II. To my surprise, it seems like no buyers in Japan have uploaded footage of it to YouTube yet. Once I get its data and the data for (American) Retro-Bit's Super Retro-Cade, I'll finally update my plug-n-play info website.

 

onmode-ky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hey not sure when this one came out but I didn't see it on your list. Stupid enough, seems to have been not released in the US, just the UK

 

The Capcom 3-in-1 from Jakks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Capcom-T-V-Game-preloaded-Commando/dp/B0010ALRQ0

 

GnG, Commando, and 1942 are on it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJMg9WmuwiQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1g5HTcKSHs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1q-0tukFU

 

Oh and they're not the NES games, arcade releases from the look of it.

Edited by Tanooki
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I don't typically make a post for every time I update my plug-n-play information website, but since it has been ~10 months since the last update, I figured I ought to make it known that there has now been a big bunch of info added. All the stuff that came out in the latter half of 2017, plus a pair of early-2018 releases, is now covered on my site; in particular, the game lists for all of them are in the Retro Contents page, and some of the systems' underlying tech details are covered on the site as well. And as always, the first post in this thread includes the latest edition of the comprehensive plug-n-play systems listing from my site, as well as the updated data on plug-n-play system CPUs.

 

Your listing was very helpful, I especially enjoyed the cpu types. MAME is increasingly emulating these and cross referencing with that may net you more details.

I am unfashionably late in replying, but I'm glad you found my information useful. I'll do some digging into MAME emulation of PnP architectures and see if I find anything interesting.

 

Hey not sure when this one came out but I didn't see it on your list. Stupid enough, seems to have been not released in the US, just the UK

 

The Capcom 3-in-1 from Jakks.

Thanks for your post (to which I am, again, terribly late in replying), but that system actually is in my list already. I even have a date on it for when Jakks Pacific issued a press release announcing their acquisition of a plug-n-play license from Capcom (02/18/2004)--I remember my excitement upon reading that release when it came out, because 1942 was, at the time, my most hoped-for game on a plug-n-play system. Unfortunately, I don't remember (and kept no record of) when it first debuted, but I do know that it came out in Canada before the US; in particular, Best Buy Canada and Future Shop (a Canadian electronics retailer also owned by Best Buy) both stocked it. I recall waiting for months for it to appear in either US brick-and-mortar or US online stores, but I eventually gave up on that and asked a relative in Vancouver to buy me one. Thus, my own copy, which my records say I received in May 2006, has both English and French on the packaging. Eventually, Jakks' Capcom system did release in the US, as I finally saw it for the first time on Black Friday 2006 in the Toys 'R Us store where I was buying my Game Boy micro.

 

onmode-ky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

I updated my plug-n-play information website back in December, including a whole slew of data on all the systems released in the latter half of 2018, along with revamping big chunks of existing data to add more specifics on how much IP owner representation is on certain multi-license systems.

 

But, I forgot to ask at the time, did anyone ever figure out the key/button sequences to access the test/debug mode in any of AtGames' 2018 releases? And/or did anyone open their systems up and find interesting things printed on the PCBs or chips? I'm out of touch with the forum these days, and I don't have them time to read through all the Flashback threads, so I'm going the "general info request" route. Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

onmode-ky

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I hardly log on anymore, but do check this site from time to time.

Has the thread been updated with the latest TV plug-n-plays?

 

I recently stumbled across an "Entertainment System" plug-n-play with 620 classic built-in games that I bought on ebay. It was dirt-cheap brand-new for only $20.

Obviously from the name, it looks like a mini NES, complete with 2 NES-like controllers, AV cable and power adapter. It does have the real-deal classic games like Rescue Rangers, Ice Climber, various Mario games, Donkey Kong series, Dig Dug, Contra series, the list goes on. But there were a lot of repeat titles if you go thru all pages, so there are really only (I haven't counted) probably 500 or so actual different games; not 620. Some games like Mappy seem to be messed up. There are Homebrew/hack games on it that I haven't heard of, and there are many games with Japanese or Chinese script in them.

 

Just adding to the list if it needs it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I recently stumbled across an "Entertainment System" plug-n-play with 620 classic built-in games that I bought on ebay. It was dirt-cheap brand-new for only $20.

Obviously from the name, it looks like a mini NES, complete with 2 NES-like controllers, AV cable and power adapter. It does have the real-deal classic games like Rescue Rangers, Ice Climber, various Mario games, Donkey Kong series, Dig Dug, Contra series, the list goes on. But there were a lot of repeat titles if you go thru all pages, so there are really only (I haven't counted) probably 500 or so actual different games; not 620. Some games like Mappy seem to be messed up. There are Homebrew/hack games on it that I haven't heard of, and there are many games with Japanese or Chinese script in them.

I apologize that I'm replying 1.5 months late, but thank you for your interest in contributing to my data archive! However, the system you describe is a bootleg, released in the wake of (and stylized to mimic) the NES Classic, so I intentionally never included it in my data. If you'd like more information about it, though, check out its entry, "Mini Game Anniversary Edition," at BootlegGames Wiki, which details what games are actually on it (only 309, not 620, as nearly half of its content is duplicated in its menu).

 

I've just done the first update of 2019 at my plug-n-play information website, which included uploading the most recent edition of the comprehensive plug-n-play listing, pnpgames.20190601.txt (I've also made corresponding updates to the first post in this thread, including attaching that file to it). It's not much in the way of brand new information, but if you've been curious about the breakdown of developers and IP owners represented across AtGames' older systems, that data has all been updated to be more detailed, in line with how pnpgames.20181221.txt did that for all other multi-license plug-n-play makers. Still no news on key/button sequences to access the test/debug mode in any of AtGames' 2018 releases, though.

 

For anyone who just wants to know what new plug-n-play systems have recently been announced for release on the horizon: Super Happy Fun Fun, former primary developer of light gun games for Jakks Pacific, showed off an Angry Birds system (tie-in for the movie sequel this summer) and a "Virtual Masters Fishing" system at February's NY Toy Fair (see their official website), and Koch Media announced their pricey Capcom Home Arcade in April. I have to say, I'm a bit intrigued that SHFF's fishing game (a license of a Takara Tomy handheld game series) supposedly will be able to do multiplayer with four Bluetooth-paired fishing rod controllers.

 

onmode-ky

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Yeah, I figured it was a clone or hack plug-n-play console like many out there. Just didn't know if you were adding them or not. There are several versions of the "Entertainment System" out there. There are many good/great games on it, but there are also a lot of "filler" games and duplicates on it,too.

 

I have taken a liking to plug-n-play TV consoles over the years - they are just so fun and convenient, even if they are NOACs or emulated.

 

Keep up the updates/list!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Is there someone knowledgeable about the 2600 library out there who can answer this for me?  Ever since AtGames' FB4 in 2012, my plug-n-play records have described the 2600's port of Taito's Polaris as having been published by Tigervision and developed by Sierra On-Line, because that's what the AtariAge page for the game says.  However, today I noticed that neither "Sierra" nor "On-Line" appear anywhere on the game's box/cartridge art, nor in the manual.  Moreover, the only other Tigervision 2600 games whose pages say, "Developer: Sierra On-Line," are the three games which were ports of actual Sierra On-Line games (Jawbreaker, Marauder, and Threshold), instead of being games where Sierra functioned as a 2600 port developer for Tigervision.  Thus, "Developer: Sierra On-Line" is actually misleading, because it's more like "Original IP: Sierra On-Line" for those.  For Polaris, the equivalent would be "Original IP: Taito" . . . so what exactly is the origin of "Developer: Sierra On-Line" in the AtariAge Polaris page?

 

Is it just a mistake?

 

I've assumed for all these years that the Robert H. O'Neil credited as the port's programmer at the AtariAge page (and on the cartridge's label, so that much is confirmed) must have been a guy who worked at Sierra, and Sierra had been contracted by Tigervision to develop the port.  However, since it turns out that none of the other "Developer: Sierra On-Line" games fit that hypothetical model, I'm now wondering if that line being in the AtariAge page for Polaris might simply be an errant copy-and-paste kind of mistake.  From my searches for info on a Robert H. O'Neil game programmer, there's no indication he ever worked for Sierra; as far as I can tell, the only other 2600 projects he's known to have worked on are the unreleased Flesh Gordon and a prototype of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both for Wizard Video.

 

So, the only source that says Sierra had anything to do with Atari 2600 Polaris is AtariAge, and in light of the aforementioned other findings, that developer credit seems questionable.  Does anyone have any credible proof that Sierra really played a part in 2600 Polaris?  If not, then I think I'll need to alter info that's been in my plug-n-play data records for nearly 6 years (not the full ~7 years since the FB4's release, but still). . . .

 

onmode-ky

 

P.S. The Capcom Home Arcade released today (yesterday).  Did anyone here get one?  Admittedly, it's super expensive, so maybe there are few takers here.  I, of course, am just fishing for info on it.

 

Also, regarding this:

On 4/7/2018 at 1:58 AM, onmode-ky said:

Eventually, Jakks' Capcom system did release in the US, as I finally saw it for the first time on Black Friday 2006 in the Toys 'R Us store where I was buying my Game Boy micro.

 

The above is what I remember, but according to a post I wrote in August 2006, cited below, I had already seen it in late August, months before Black Friday.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Just posting as a reference here to look up information.

 

MAME has added many Plug and Play units now.

I am currently enjoying the Namco Nostalgia games, and the Taito ones also,

along with the JAKKS Ms Pac Man and many more.

 

I do own some of them, like the Pac-Man 256, but its so much better,

being able to actually play them with actual Arcade quality sticks,

and controllers.

 

Will post a dedicated topic over in emulation.

 

later

-1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have started a thread on TV Plug and Play, with videos:
So far :
Jakks Ms. Pac-Man plug n play - Dig Dug Gamekey - Gameplay highlights up to 1,000,000, and level 256, no killscreen

 

Lets TV play Classic - Namco Nostalgia 1 - Mappy, Mappy : revenge of nyamco, Xevious, Xevious : Scramble Mission

 

later

 

-1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like Arcade 1up will be cobranding some Plug N plays, probably the Namco ones, but 

also adding their own:

 

http://www.rockman-corner.com/2020/01/arcade1up-developing-mega-man-plug-and.html

 

Screen+Shot+2020-01-29+at+10.16.42+PM.pn

 

Arcade1Up – makers of those miniaturized arcade cabinets that everyone loves – are launching a line of "plug and play" devices featuring retro games. Revealed earlier this month at CES, the lineup includes Pac-Man, Mickey Mania, Ducktales and... Mega Man.

The Mega Man plug and play comes with a wireless, Mega Man-inspired Sega Saturn-like controller and an HDMI dongle that houses six built-in games. Although Arcade1Up haven't specified which games are on it, it's safe to assume they'll be Mega Man 1-6. The device also includes a rewind feature and save states.

There's currently no word when we can expect the plug and play to hit retailers or for how much. We'll keep an ear to the ground. For now, you might want to keep an eye on Arcade1Up's website. Stay tuned!

 

later

-1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...