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1. 

   - ITC Chronicles - :- Stories from the Ivory Tower Collections

   A blog by CrossBow in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 40
     entries
   • 76
     comments
   • 2165
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Sega Master System - FM upgrade Region Switch Info
   • Atari 7800 :- Controller remote pause function modification
   • 7800 oddity - a Maria that kinda? Works?
   • New PCB Design for Intellivision installs - Sample install pics
   • New PCB Designs & New Option for UAV Installs Soon!

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Sega Master System - FM upgrade Region Switch Info

   I've installed the FM upgrade board 4 times now into a few different SMS NTSC consoles now and something that I tend to always forget, is that the official instructions for installing the board has a few mistakes in it. One of those mistakes is a pretty big one that I've mentioned to Tim Worthington a few times but it never seems to get fixed in his guide. That step is regarding the process for getting the region switch working on NTSC consoles. Now the steps listed I'm sure are accurate for PAL versions of the console, but 3 different model 1 and one model 2 unit I've installed the kit into all required the same thing to get it working.

   The specific step to install the region switch wire states to solder a wire from the IORQ pin off the FM board and to isolate and solder the same signal pin on the 2516 IC chip in the console. This chip is the IO Gate array IC btw. The docs state this is pin 19 on that IC and that is a correct statement. However, removing this pin from circuit on the NTSC consoles will prevent the SMS from booting at all. Just a black screen when powering on the console. Attaching the region switch wire to that pin while isolate does nothing.

   The pin you want to attach to instead on that IC is actually Pin 23. It is listed as the KillGa pin and I assume has something to do with a halt or reset. In some models of the SMS pin 23 isn't attached to anything. But on the NTSC systems it is part of the circuit. So, you have to either cut the trace to this pin or lift the pin from the board to isolate it and then install the IORQ wire from the FM board to pin 23. This will correctly allow switching the region on the SMS. The region switch isn't dynamic so you have to either reset the game after switching, or power the SMS off and then back on for the region switch setting to take effect. Here is a picture of the wire I'm talking about attached to a lifted pin23 off the IC I did the other night as an example.

   

   Here is the IORQ pad the other end of the wire attaches to on the current and latest version of the FM board upgrades. Depending on the version of the FM you have, this pad has changed places but it is always labeled the same. In the pic below is the yellow wire soldered on the upper left section.

   

    

   So if you ever install one of these or possibly have one installed and hadn't gotten the region switching working on your NTSC console, now you know why and how to correct for it.

   BTW the switch is advised because it allows you to select between US/PSG audio, US/FM audio, and JPN/FM audio settings. There are 2 games known that require the JPN/FM setting in order for them to work with the main one being Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap here in the US (Wonder Boy II in JPN).

    

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2. 

   Lance’s Laboratory

   A blog by Video 61 in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 8
     entries
   • 62
     comments
   • 1284
     views

   Recent Entries

   • HOW ATARI XE MARIO BROS. GOT THROWN IN THE DUMP
   • RAIDERS OF THE LOST EPROMS - UPDATE!
   • EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX
   • I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS
   • WHY DO ATARI XEGS CARTRIDGES RATTLE?

   

   Latest Entry
   

   HOW ATARI XE MARIO BROS. GOT THROWN IN THE DUMP

   THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ATARI DISTRIBUTOR
   Tuesday, March 26, 2024

    

     Hi and welcome to Lance’s Laboratory! This is the eighth entry of what will be my personal Blog, sharing small slices of life with you from around the Twin Cities and from within my Lab. For those who are new to Atari I/O let me introduce myself: My name is Lance Ringquist, I’m from Minnesota, and I am the world's oldest surviving Atari dealer. You may have heard of me before as Video 61 Atari Sales which I have consistently operated since 1983 and I have been at it now for over 40 years!

   Before we jump right into the story of the Atari XE Mario Bros. cartridges, let’s take a giant step back and see the big picture of how Atari was ran in those years. Have I ever told you about the 400 400 computers? Well, in one of Atari’s warehouses around Sunnyvale they stumbled upon 400 Atari 400 computers they still had brand new in the box, that they had inherited from Warner. This was in the early 1990s during the time of the Atari Lynx when Jack Tramiel ran the show with his three sons. When this happened, Jack’s people at Atari called up and wanted to know if Bruce, Brad and I wanted to go in on this together and buy out their remaining inventory of 400 400 computers. We said “YES! We’ll be there to get them the next day.” - But that’s not what ended up happening. More on that one in a minute…

    

   

    

   It had come down from Jack that this was the only way they would sell to us. Let me tell you how expensive it was for Atari to process an order - it cost them about $125 to write out a single invoice. And you have to understand, even under what Jack had done to Atari, his austerity measures, cutting down their workforce by over 80%, it was still a huge company. Efficiency experts had figured out that for Atari to write out one invoice and ship an order, it was $125, regardless if it was one video game cartridge or 100. This wasn’t the shipping expense, this was Atari’s time and labor. So when you’d send in an order to Atari for one 2600 game or one 7800 game, a new joystick or something like that, it cost Atari $125 to fulfill the order in time and labor - for someone to write out your order, for someone else to find your game in a warehouse, for a worker to pack it, label it, and ship it to you. For it to cost them $125 to fulfill an order for a $15 cartridge, Atari went in the hole. They’d lose money, and Jack wouldn’t have that. That’s why when you’d pick up the phone and call Atari in those days for a cartridge order or service repair, they sluffed that off onto me because it cost them too much money to do it themselves, although it shouldn't have. It was much easier and much less expensive for them to just answer the phone. It became a very expensive thing.

    

    

    

   "Many of the people who try to pry information out of me, like the Vice guy who ran the hit piece on Brad, have this idea in their head that Atari only had one warehouse. NO THEY DID NOT. They had MULTIPLE warehouses around the world, and it was expensive to have all these employees and insurance, air conditioning and electricity, property upkeep, taxes, everything needed to keep those warehouses going day in and day out. It's expensive for me too." @Video 61

    

    

    

   Jack Tramiel never looked at video games as a premium. He looked at games as too costly, too much money to develop, publish, warehouse, retail. And of course that’s how he made money, but he just didn’t understand it. He thought it was all hardware sales and games were up to third party developers who were left all on their own. "Here's a Jaguar and a dev kit, you go do it." Jack would do everything he could to sluff off sales onto other places like Federated electronics stores, which Jack Tramiel owned through Atari Corporation from 1987 - 1989. Jack used Federated as a way to directly retail warehouse loads of Atari merchandise almost into the 1990s and beyond, especially overstock remaining from the Warner Communications days:

    

    

   “Business is war” Jack said. I’m sure every little boy or little girl buying Mario Bros. understood that. They were so eager to make me a distributor - “We need somebody in the midwest to help us out, we made a lot of mistakes” - and me not having been a distributor before and not knowing the ins and outs, of course I said YES. Boy, I had no idea just what I was in for.

    

    

    

   "I didn’t realize they were setting me up to be not just an Atari Distributor and Service Department for them, but also a public relations sort of thing for them too. You wouldn’t believe how many invoices I wrote for $9.95 power supplies and TV switch boxes. $10 orders that would’ve cost Atari $125 or more to fulfill. So just think about all the money I saved them, and I think that’s one of the reasons why they looked so fondly on me and didn’t want to burn me, because if they had burned me then I would’ve been just like everybody else. Everybody else got burned but us." @Video 61

    

    

    

   Just to give you some sort of idea how Jack managed things and micromanaged almost every aspect of the business: This one time, one of the developers who was working on one of the Jaguar CD games (I can’t remember which one) needed more blank CD-Rs for testing the game. This was a game that Atari had over $1 million bucks tied up into developing. This was before CD-Rs were in peoples' homes and spindles of CD-Rs would not have been commonplace yet in stores like Office Max, CompUSA, or Sam's Club, but they should’ve been available within a place like Atari.

    

   

    

   The programmer went up to the office manager and requisitioned more blank CD-Rs for testing and development, expecting that there’d be a spindle of them somewhere. “We don’t have any” the office manager told him. The programmer thought the manager didn’t understand what he was asking for. “What do you mean, this is a million dollar game with a deadline and I’m under pressure to get this done. When are you going to get them in?” Manager said “I don’t know, Jack’s waiting for a sale.” So he held up production on these games waiting for one of his suppliers to have a sale on blank CD-ROMs, and only then would he okay the office manager buying them. That’s called micromanagement, and it’s not something the President or CEO or Chairperson of a company that size should be doing.

    

   

    

   POW! Losing Sleep Over A Plumber And A Trucker

   So the Mario Bros. story: There was another time when there were 1,500 brand new Atari XE Mario Bros. cartridges sitting at Atari new in the box, being offered to me and I wasn’t able to get them. I’m still sick over that one. I had accepted Atari's offer for me to purchase the Mario Bros. cartridges and they slipped through my fingers like sand.

   You really don’t know what “pinching pennies” means until you hear this stuff Jack Tramiel used to do. He did this sort of stuff all the time. I still lose sleep over this XE Mario thing. This is a story that should be told, though. Atari had me as a distributor supplying foreign Atari dealers. I was told it was cheaper for Jack to have me deal with these Atari dealers in Latin America and Europe than for Atari to do it themselves. But if you knew some of the reasons why, you’d be stunned, because he’d probably have made more money directly dealing with these people.

    

    

    

   "I was on the phone with Atari as much as ten to twenty times a day, if not more. It was a constant barrage." @Video 61

    

    

    

   You see, one of the ongoing things was Jack didn’t like dealing with all these dealers and distributors - he just wanted to deal with a couple of them. I don’t know why. It's how Jack did business. So I had Atari’s inventory and I was watching it GO-GO-GO. It sold well, and of course I had access to all of that stuff and the ability to buy more directly from Atari. But I couldn’t buy it all, because of course there were millions of cartridges. So I was trying to buy up the cartridges that were going faster because I knew those were good games. And Mario Bros. was one of them, especially the version that had been released for the Atari XE. Atari wisely made this Mario Bros. for the XE, and there was still a huge userbase for the Atari 8-bit computer from before Jack took over that would love to have a Mario Bros. game for their Atari XL computer too. So I put an order in for a couple of master cartons of Mario Bros. cartridges for Atari XE. That’s 72 cartridges to a master carton. I receive them at my warehouse and they sell through quickly. I come back later to order more from Atari, and another huge chunk of XE Mario Bros. cartridges are gone from their inventory. They were going fast!

    

   

    

   One time I went to order some and there were only 1,500 left. “I’ll take them all...” I said to the person from Atari the phone, "...everything you have left." Atari came back and said “Well there’s something here you might be unaware of about those Mario Bros. cartridges.” I said “Well, what are they?” and they said “Those games are locked up in semi truck trailers in our lot.” Okay, fine. I asked that they open the semi truck trailers up and take them out - “We can’t do that” she said, “because they are parked against each other, bumper to bumper, so you can’t open them.” Hmm, okay. I said “Well get a truck and move them.” Atari responds: “Oh we can ’t do that.” I asked why. “Oh Jack won’t let us, that will cost money.” Me: “Well how do I get them then?” Atari: “Well you’ll have to hire a trucking company to come in and do this. You’re just going to have to do this on your own. Once the trucking company comes in and moves the trailers apart and we can get into them, then we will call you back and tell you what cartridges we have, but for sure we have 1,500 new Mario Bros. for the XE game machine. What else is in there we’re not exactly sure.”

    

    

    

   "Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Here I am on the phone ready to buy 1,500 Mario Bros. cartridges directly from Atari, who wants to sell them to me, but are held back by Jack’s penny-pinching policies. Spend a dollar to save a penny. This is just how things were ran. This is the reality of things that I dealt with day in and day out." @Video 61

    

    

    

   So to get access to the Mario Bros. games in the semi trailer, I have to go and hire a trucking company myself, to go do the work for Atari. Remember the $125 it cost Atari per invoice to fulfill an order? Not only was Atari not paying for the trucking company to come do the work, they were having me do all the legwork with making arrangements with the trucking companies, so that Atari didn't have to pay their employees to do it themselves. That's a cost saving measure. 

   I called some trucking companies here in Minnesota to see if they had anybody out in California who could do this for me. Yeah, some of them had some guys available out there near Sunnyvale, CA - but this wasn’t over yet, it would take some time. The trucking companies came back and said YES, they could do the job of going out to Atari, hooking their truck up to the trailers and pulling them apart - but I’d have to pay for the licensing and insurance, yada yada yada, pay for the truck drivers to go in there, move things around, unhook the trailers, and then let Atari go in and take inventory and wait for DAYS. So I would have to pay for the truck and the driver, for all of those days, until they are done with Atari going through everything and taking inventory. For every minute of every day they are doing that, I would be charged by the trucking company to sit and wait. So you can only imagine how much that was going to cost me.

    

    

   

    

   This took some doing, but I got it all sorted out. I called Atari back, and said the expense of the trucking company could cost me $5,000 - $10,000 dollars. In those days that was the price of a nice new American car. Atari said “Don’t worry about it. Jack got mad and we just trashed it all. We sent the semi trailer full of games off to the scrappers.” I said “Well then you had to hire a trucking company to come in and do the work.” Atari: “Yeah we did. But the thing about it is we didn’t have to have any of our Atari employees inventory anything. The truck drivers just pulled the trailers apart and hauled it away. We didn’t have to spend money on employees doing inventory.” You got to remember those trailers were rented also, so by throwing the Mario Bros. games in the dump not only did they avoid having to pay the expense of employees inventorying the games, they also didn’t have to pay the rental on the trailers anymore or the taxes on the inventory. That was "Jackthink".

    

    

    

   "When I say 'Bruce and Brad' I'm referring to my old colleagues, Bruce is Bruce Carso of B&C ComputerVisions, and Brad is Brad Koda of Best Electronics. The three of us have operated independently in the Atari business for many, many years, and we dealt directly with Atari every day. Yes, Bruce and Brad are my 'competitors' but not really, we each have a speciality: Mine is games, Brad is parts, and Bruce is mostly computers." @Video 61

    

    

    

   People think the E.T. in the garbage dump in New Mexico story is bad. This was insane, I still can’t believe it. Jack would rather manufacture cartridges to just sit unsold, parked in a hot trailer in a parking lot, and then throw a truckload of brand new Mario Bros. games in the garbage - than to spend a few extra pennies inventorying the games so he could sell them to me and have plenty of room for him to make a profit in the end. This is how this guy thought, it was just beyond unbelievable.

   In the end, Brad, Bruce and I managed to get all the 7800s out of Atari and we managed to get what was left over of the Lynx stuff except for 10,000+ units sitting in Hong Kong that needed to be repaired. I may have gotten some of them, I don’t remember it’s so long ago, whatever happened to the bulk of them. Brad doesn’t have them, Bruce doesn’t have them, and I don't know what happened to the rest of them but, that will be a story for another day.

    

   

    

   Oh, and what happened to the 400 400 computers you ask? Well when we went there the next day ready to buy them and load up the truck, Atari had already tossed them into the dumpsters and the dumpster divers and scrappers got them for $ZERO. Most of the Atari 400 computers went to the scrappers because if the dumpster divers had gotten them we would’ve known immediately. Many of the dumpster divers at Atari would call us up immediately, because they knew they could only sell them to flea market type things one or two at a time, and it was easier for them to call me, Bruce, and Brad, and try to get money out of us because they knew we’d buy a bunch of them. And they were right.

   This was Jack saving money. Instead of waiting a day or two for me to get everything organized, it was “Well we don’t need the labor, we don’t need the added expense of paying more employees to do more work, just get rid of the computers now.” That’s the way things operated under Jack. It was ran as a feudal system with Jack as King and his three sons as Princes. They wouldn’t wait five minutes, they’d just ask if you wanted it or didn’t. Sometimes Atari wouldn’t even ASK if you wanted it or not, they’d just ship it to me. Things would arrive on trucks to my warehouse that I didn’t order, or ask for, or knew anything about. Jack would decide to get rid of something and use Lance as his dump. That’s how I ended up with so many random things out of Atari that I’m still uncovering and have to make heads or tails out of. (See my recent series of Blog posts titled “Raiders of the Lost EPROMs”.) That was the frustrating problem - there’s quite a bit of Atari stuff that I have no idea what it was or asked for, and some of the Atari stuff I wanted bad went to the scrappers or the dumpster. Had I been able to purchase them back then, today they'd all be in the hands of loyal Atari players out there like you, instead of in the dump.

    

   Thanks for reading,

   - Lance  

    

   Please visit me online for more at www.atarisales.com

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3. 

   Wumperdinkle's blog

   A blog by Wumperdinkle Sniy in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 30
     entries
   • 7
     comments
   • 831
     views

   Recent Entries

   • My work
   • A month later...
   • Purple mountains majesty
   • The end of November
   • Another project finished.

   

   Latest Entry
   

   My work

   I redesigned all the levels in the Hamburgers game for the Game Gear. I think I'm done with that game.

   I went back to work to see if I could get rid of the scanline issue I had with Fruit Fly Fun for the Atari 2600. I think I did.

   

   I played it on an Atari 7800 and I was surprised that a 6 button Genesis controller works, only fire is B. So now I'll continue work on some of my other projects.

   Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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4. 

   GameShark Codes

   A blog by 1Littlebeast in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 17
     entries
   • 4
     comments
   • 981
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Pokémon Yellow
   • Pokémon Blue
   • Pokémon Pinball
   • Dragon Tales: Dragon Wings
   • Ms. Pac-Man

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Pokémon Yellow

   

   Infinite HP (In Battle)

   01FF15DO

   Infinite PP (1st Position)

   01282CD0

   Infinite PP (2nd Position)

   01282DD0

   Infinite PP (3rd Position)

   01282ED0

   Infinite PP (4th Position)

   01282FD0

   Enemy Can't Attack and Burned at Beginning of Match

   0170E8CF

   Infinite Money

   019946D3

   Infinite Money

   019947D3

   Infinite Money

   019948D3

   Have All Badges

   01FF55D3

   Protect Status

   010017D0

   Never Miss and Have More Criticals

   01FFD5CF

   No Random Battles

   01033BD1

   Infinite Casino Coins

   0199A3D5

   Infinite Casino Coins

   0199A4D5

   Infinite Time (Safari Zone)

   01F00DD7

   Infinite Safari Balls

   016446DA

   Float On Air

   010A13D7

   Pacific Pikachu

   013972D1

   Pacific Pikachu

   015563D1

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5. 

   RickR's Blog

   A blog by RickR in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 20
     entries
   • 74
     comments
   • 13898
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Disneyland in a Monsoon
   • Day trip to Barlow Wayside Park
   • Day Trip to Evergreen Air Museum
   • Memories Make Objects Valuable
   • Retro PC Gaming - Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver 2

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Disneyland in a Monsoon

   We had made our plans months ago, figuring early Feb would be a nice time to go to Disneyland with less crowds and ride the new "Runaway Railway" ride.  As the date approached, we could see the weather forecast was getting worse and worse, with an "atmospheric river" approaching.  Bah!  We are Oregonians, rain is of no concern!  So my wife and I decided for forge ahead (full disclosure, I asked a couple of locals what they thought). 

   How was it?  Well.  Bad.  1.5" of rain on both days we were there.  Crowds were a bit less than normal.  But the part we didn't anticipate was how many rides were shut down.  Even a lot of indoor rides had to be closed due to water intrusion! 

   BUT, we still had fun.  We rode the new Runaway Railway several times (it is awesome) and Rise of the Resistance as well (still awesome).  Many rides had no lines at all.  Which was nice.  And waterproof coats and shoes held up well.  And we now have interesting stories to tell. 

   I have just a few pictures to share.  They don't do justice to how much it rained with so much water on the ground. 

    

   

   

   

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6. 

   Channel 3 Reviews

   A blog by Atari 5200 Guy in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 59
     entries
   • 151
     comments
   • 25088
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Atari 5200 Thoughts
   • To Mod or Not to Mod?
   • Jinks (Atari 7800)
   • First Time Playing Crossbow
   • Atari 7800 Top Favorites

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Atari 5200 Thoughts

   

    

   The Atari 5200 has been my all-time favorite console for a very long time.  However modern times have not been kind to it.  The machine itself is fine and I don’t mind the RF hook up it received but the controllers have a poor working ratio when not used often.  Which is weird considering most other systems can tolerate months without being used.  The Atari 5200 controllers, however, are a double edged sword. If you don’t use them once a week they fail, if you use them too often they can fail.  It’s hard to find a happy place sometimes.  However the controllers are not what this is about.  I’m just setting up the logic behind my thoughts.

   When it was in production the idea of full analog controllers sounded good… on paper.  Once shown to the public it wasn’t all bad but it was clear that the 360 degree controllers to beat out Intellivision just wasn’t the right answer.  Super Breakout was also considered a poor choice for a pick-in game but it was the only 4-player game ever released for the console. While I loved playing the game when I woke up that Christmas morning to a 5200 sitting in my living room I never found another four player game.  Even as I child I questioned Atari’s decisions.

    

   

    

   I never had issues with my original Atari 5200 because it got played every single day for hours on end.  Being an only child living where the only time you seen friends was at school made the 5200 my best friend.  I endured and learned how to harness those controllers on a per game basis because each game reacted differently.  Each game approached the analog controls differently. It was a “how well does this work with this game” thought process when getting a new game.  Sometimes the analog controls were great, sometimes they were OK, other times it was like “blah”.  I still say the Atari 5200 port of Pole Position was the best port made because of the analog controls.

   While I now know there were controller “solutions” those were never seen in my area by my mother or me.  So the standard equipment was it.  Which leaves me to the thoughts I have today that I think might have helped the 5200. Ignoring the lack of self centering joysticks, what if Atari gave two controller options where there was a choice of the analog controllers we all know and the option to pick up all digital joystick controllers which would have shared the same controller design?  Another option could have been to include a cable adapter that would accommodate the use of a standard Atari 2600 controller combined with the 5200 controllers.  Similar to what the Wico does.  There were so many things they “could” have done when they knew the original controllers were going to be an issue.

    

   

    

   Regardless, the 5200 is a great example of how something advanced doesn’t always plan out.  It does showcase some of the best arcade game translations of the time.  It is easy to see all the hard work that went into the system and its library of games. Some of the loved arcade games of the time were represented faithfully on the 5200. Games that easily come to mind are Qix, Joust, Space Dungeon, and Defender.  The unreleased Sinistar is impressive work as well.

   I’m sure I’m missing a few things and I know the truth behind the 5200 costing Atari millions of dollars. I just hope newcomers to the 5200 will find enjoyment and the help they need to keep it interesting.  It still has a lot to offer.

    

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7. 

   AtariAge News Feed

   A blog by AtariAge News Feed in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 16
     entries
   • 0
     comments
   • 689
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Join AtariAge at the 2023 Portland Retro Gaming Expo!
   • Vote Now For Your Favorite Atari Homebrew Games!
   • New Jaguar Games Arrive - Gods, The Chaos Engine, Stormbringer!
   • 2022 Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 14-16!
   • AtariAge Day 2022: LIVE on ZeroPage Homebrew Sat May 21, 2022

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Join AtariAge at the 2023 Portland Retro Gaming Expo!

   AtariAge will again be attending the annual Portland Retro Gaming Expo, taking place this year October 13-15 at the Oregon Convention Center! We'll have an even larger booth this year, the largest we've ever had at the show. And we'll have many new games available to purchase at the show, as well as demos for upcoming games! The AtariAge booth will be located right near the main entrance to the vendor hall, so you can't miss it as you enter the show! Many homebrew developers will be in attendance again at this year's show, so this is a great opportunity to meet and talk to developers about their games! And of course this is a HUGE event, and even larger this year with the addition of 60,000 square feet of space! There's so much to do at the show, tons of vendors, a huge free-play arcade, cosplay, auction, large console play area, tournaments, many speakers and panels throughout the show, and much more! Here's a list of the games we are working on for this year's show: Berry Fun! (Atari 2600) Boom! (Atari 2600) Bot & Tom (Atari 2600) Caramujo (Atari 2600) Electroball (Atari 2600) Game of the Bear 2 (Atari 2600) Immunity (Atari 2600) Penult (Atari 2600) Quantum Tunnel (Atari 2600) Robot Zed (Atari 2600) AWA Multicart (Atari 5200 / Atari 8-bit) Scorch (Atari 5200) A.R.T.I. (Atari 7800) Death Merchant (Atari 7800) E.X.O. (Atari 7800) Harpy's Curse (Atari 7800) Millie and Molly (Atari 7800) Oozie the Goo Gaiden (Atari 7800) Plumb Luck DX (Atari 7800) Growing Ties Deluxe (Atari Lynx) Odynexus (Atari Lynx) Novagen Volume 1 (Atari Jaguar) Rocket Ranger (Atari Jaguar) Visit our 2023 Portland Retro Gaming Expo Forum to discuss the show with other members and learn more about the new games and demos we'll have at the show! We hope to see many of you there!!

   View this article on the AtariAge News Archive

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8. 

   Nester's RPG Corner

   A blog by nester in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 1
     entry
   • 1
     comment
   • 416
     views

   Recent Entries

   • First Steps

   

   Latest Entry
   

   First Steps

   Hello and welcome for my first blog entry. I am going to discuss the rpgs I am currently playing and the progress I am making. Don't expect and complete walkthroughs or detailed step by step descriptions. I want to keep things a little more casual than that, and besides I'm not that good of a chronicler. The last thing I want to do is keep constant notes of every step of the process. I will also do reviews here including games that I have already finished. So, what am I focusing on at the moment? 

    

   Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled - Nintendo DS

   I probably shouldn't have started this game considering all the games I am in the middle of, but it's a game I've wanted to play for years. Back about a dozen years ago I tried to buy this game from the much lamented gohastings.com, but it turned out to be out of stock. Right after that happened the price went through the roof and I was never able to track one down. Luckily I found it on a totally legit DS multicart sandwiched between mountains of shovelware. I love shovelware too so I will play them all I am sure, but of course the RPGs are the main draw.

   I am only a couple hours in so I haven't accomplished much so far. It's a bit of a reversal from the typical RPG in that everybody starts out hating the protagonist because he is one of the few people who can't use magic. Usually it's the other way around with a mysterious magic user showing up and frightening everyone with their powers. i don't know if I've ever played an rpg where the protagonist is hated because he's not powerful enough. Hopefully it goes in some interesting directions.

    

   The Bard's Tale IV

   Here's another game from my classic routine of getting halfway through a game and then stopping. It's even a game that I like. The combat is fun, and I enjoy the vintage gameplay. I was playing it every night for a while there. Then I just sorta stopped. I got a couple of other new games and they took priority over a game I bought a whole month ago. I started it back up last night and it took a while to get back into the swing of things. Even on easy mode I almost lost the first battle I encountered. It's nice to get back into it though, and hopefully I will chronicle it more fully as I go along.

    

   So that's enough for today. Join me next time as I hopefully get Daggerfall: Unity figured out. Seriously it took me fifteen minutes just to learn how to turn around. 

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9. 

   MaximumRD's Bloggy Nonsense

   A blog by MaximumRD in Atari I/O Magazine

   • 7
     entries
   • 24
     comments
   • 1811
     views

   Recent Entries

   • MY RETRO GAMING CORNER officially complete ! 😎🤟🧐
   • MaximumRD's All Things AMIGA
   • SHADOWMAN games
   • Happily Running Win 10 Insiders Preview on old hardware
   • Hair grooming during self isolation.

   

   Latest Entry
   

   MY RETRO GAMING CORNER officially complete ! 😎🤟🧐

   I consider my RETRO GAMING CORNER officially complete ! 😎🤟🧐includes 14inch TOSHIBA CRT / ColecoVision w/ AtariMax Flashcart / Retrobit SuperRetroTrio (nes, snes, genesis w/ Everdrives for each) / TG-16 w/Everdrive 😎👍as well, I can hook up the 2600 module to ColecoVision or even play Master System using the Everdrive on the RetroTrio. Happy covering 7 platforms with 3 consoles. Wanted to cover as many platforms with what I already have in the space I am limited to.

   

    

   

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10. 

    1Littlebeasts Hidden Gems and Reviews

    A blog by 1Littlebeast in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 9
      entries
    • 5
      comments
    • 3080
      views

    Recent Entries

    • Sonic Frontiers
    • Sly Spy
    • The Legend of Zelda Nintendo 35th Anniversary Game & Watch
    • Pac-Attack
    • Gates Of Zendocon

    

    Latest Entry
    

    Sonic Frontiers

    Sonic Frontiers is the first open world Sonic game. I put around 34 hours into it and got the platinum trophy on PlayStation. What I loved about the game is there was a good mix between old and new. While exploring the worlds you have side quests with the koco the residents of the islands if you bring Hermit Koco hearts and seeds you can make Sonic stronger and raise his defense. If you bring Elder Koco the Kocos that you gathered while exploring you can get other perks to make your Sonic ring capacity go up as well as make him faster. You can also get Side Storys by collecting tokens to then use to unlock the story from Amy, Tails, Knuckles, and Sage. On top of exploring and doing the Side Story and defeating the bosses on the main mission you can collect gears to be able to go into portals to get the keys that you need to unlock the Chaos emeralds. What I like about the portals is when you go into a portal instead of it being open world  it goes into an old school Sonic level  where you're running to make it to the end and collect all the red stars and rings while trying to get to the end as quick as you can. If you don't want to go through all of that you can open the portal to the fishing spot  and fish to buy all of the keys to be able to proceed to the next level. There are also so many other things that you can buy in the fishing spots but one of the coolest are Dr Eggman's memos by getting these you get more story and lore.

    Some of the boss battles  are a little bit difficult but I had a lot of fun with them a couple of them I did have to look to find how to beat them. There's also a jukebox feature that allows you to control what you're listening to in game and you can collect more music throughout the levels. I really enjoyed this game and there's so much fun to be had with it. I do wish that you could play as sonic's friends and pals  after you beat the game and run around the areas but if it's possible I couldn't figure out how. I would give Sonic Frontiers a 9 out of 10 I highly enjoyed myself and I would highly recommend you guys give it a shot especially if you like Sonic and open world games. It definitely has the perfect mix of old and new. 

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11. 

    Atari 7800 Reviews and more!

    A blog by 7800 Pro Gamer in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 7
      entries
    • 6
      comments
    • 919
      views

    Recent Entries

    • GOSUB for the Atari 7800 Review!
    • Atari 7800 Double Dragon Review!
    • My Atari 7800 Reviews Explained
    • Venture for the Atari 7800 Review
    • Intro to Chinese Handhelds for Retro Gaming!

    

    Latest Entry
    

    GOSUB for the Atari 7800 Review!

    I want to start off by saying I love GOSUB on the 7800!  It was a fantastic experience, simple to pick up and a lot of fun to learn.  It's a solid play for an evening or afternoon, and it's a bit cheaper than other games I've purchased off of other websites.  I got it from 2600connection, but I couldn't find it listed anywhere on his Facebook or Website.  I had to send him an email and ask him if he had any left, PayPal him the money, and it came pretty quick.  It's hard to track down unless you really want to find it, and he has a lot of other games and versions of GOSUB for other platforms.  Yes, I love GOSUB for the 7800, but should you go to the trouble of tracking it down for yourself?  Maybe not actually...

    
    The graphics are very simple.  You have the blue background that represents water, along with the deadly seaweed outline that traps your yellow submarine and makes traveling difficult.  Then there's an octopus that will track you relentlessly, and later there are even larger enemies and tiny sharks that are surprisingly detailed!  Each level had a simple key and treasure chest and the last few levels have portals that look just as simple.  Everything  in the game looks uniform with the rest  of the game and the coloring is all fine.  Honestly, it's a boring game graphically.  The title screen looks okay, the ending screen looks okay, and the game over screens look... you guessed it... okay.  Overall the graphics may be a bit too simple really, but they work for this game.

    

    Please Excuse The Screenshots, their not uniform yet.

    
    If you sit at the title screen you will hear the sonar of your submarine beep every few seconds.  It made my wife ask "what is that beeping, it's driving me crazy".  So don't let it sit at the title while you write a review.  But other than that the song that plays is nice and catchy and the sound effects are fine too.  Again, these things are simple and on their own I don't think their anything impressive at all, similar to the graphics.  But when you add them to the gameplay of this game you get something fantastic.  So, although it might be cliche, GOSUB is greater than the sum of it's parts.  Easily.

    
    And the gameplay is really the main thing to talk about here.  It's a maze game where you must push a direction to make your sub move.  It will continue in that direction until you push another direction and it will start to move that way.  So once you start moving, you will always be moving.  It can be difficult not to touch the sides of the seaweed maze sometimes, but the octopus that will chase you relentlessly is what really adds to the challenge.  You can only fire in the direction your moving in and you can only have one bullet on the screen at a time.  So if you shoot at an octopus that's coming at you and miss, then you need to have room to evade until your next shot is ready.  It actually can get pretty intense and fun!
    You also have 2 lives per level which is nice for progression.  If you use all your lives on level 5 for instance, than you don't have to worry about having no lives for level 6.  You'll automatically start out with 2 more lives for your attempts of that level.  Later levels you'll encounter an invincible shark that will move randomly and you most avoid, and portals that allow you to get to other ends of the maze.  Not to mention the mid and final boss that requires quite a few shots to get past.  You don't technically kill him, but you do chase him off.  At the end of each maze you'll find a treasure chest that may or may not require a key and that's essentially the game.

    

    Screenshot from WIP

    
    It all plays and works well together, but I do have a complaint.  This game is SHORT!  Too short.  I was able to beat it in about 2 hours of playing.  When I first turned GOSUB on it was too easy because I didn't see any octopus enemies, but the difficulty switches fix that.  So there is a "kids" mode I would say, or one without enemies.  But the 21 levels left me wanting so much more.  I was satisfied with the game, but I don't see myself pulling it down again anytime soon.  The want to replay the same levels just isn't there for me.  I don't think I would get anything more from repeated playthroughs of the game I guess.  I would buy another cart if he doubled the levels though, but that's just me.

    
    GOSUB did provide a fun afternoon for me (well 2 now: one when I got it and one to prepare for this review) but I really don't have the want to continue beating it.  It feels fantastic, and there are bonus levels along with the boss battles to break up the maze based gameplay.  It all works fantastic, its just a shame that it didn't last longer.  I believe I paid 30 dollars, maybe under 35 with shipping for this one from 2600connection (google it, because the website I had led to somewhere else now) and I've spent more on a single evening before.  You could have dinner, see a movie, or play GOSUB and have some good old fashion enjoyment.  Plus the cartridge looks nice.  But if you want something with a little more meat on it, then you may want to look elsewhere.

    

    The Cartridge and Manual Look Nice.  Shame there's no box...

    
    Graphics: 5 out of 10

    The graphics aren't really bad, but they are simple.  Given the simplicity of what's needed you could've really went all out with details.  But it works in context of the rest of the game
     

    Sound: 6 out of 10

    I really like the songs composition and it sounds good.  The only sound effect I didn't care for was that beeping at the title screen, but I guess it's my fault for letting it sit.
     

    Gameplay: 7 out of 10

    This game plays fantastic.  Don't touch the edges, avoid the enemies, and grab the treasure!  It's simple but it works!
     

    Fun: 8 out of 10

    I loved it while it lasted.  I felt like we were just getting started with the sharks and portals when I got to the end, so it feels like it finishes abruptly.  But I really liked the experience up until then.

    Value: 3 out of 10

    I hate to give this such a low score on value, but it only lasts a few hours with little reason to go back to it.  I may play it once every few years and that's it.  This is truly the low point of this game.

    Overall: 6 out of 10 GOOD!

    I bounced back and forth between a 5 and 6 for this one.  I do recommend it for those that are okay with paying 35 bucks for an evening of fun.  Everybody else should steer clear, but I do want to say that I'm glad I experienced this game and don't regret the purchase.

     

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12. 

    Retroist Podcast Feed

    A blog by Retroist Podcast Feed in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 20
      entries
    • 0
      comments
    • 656
      views

    Recent Entries

    • Retroist Mac Tonight Podcast
    • Retroist The Wizard (1989) Podcast
    • Retroist Sid Meier’s Pirates! Podcast
    • Retroist The Wizard TV Show Podcast
    • Retroist The Year Without A Santa Claus Podcast

    

    Latest Entry
    

    Retroist Mac Tonight Podcast

    Mac Tonight was a smash success, but quickly faded from the scene, only to be revived by Mcdonald's sporadically. On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I look at the history of this famed spokesmoon.

    View the full article on the Retroist

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13. 

    Atari XP News Feed

    A blog by Atari XP News Feed in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 10
      entries
    • 1
      comment
    • 783
      views

    Recent Entries

    • Why wasn’t the Game Aquaventure Released?
    • The Aquaventure Mystery Solved?
    • The Aquaventure Mystery Deepens
    • Aquaventure’s Pirate Links
    • Why is the identity of developers behind early video games sometimes a mystery?

    

    Latest Entry
    

    Why wasn’t the Game Aquaventure Released?

    Martin Goldberg is a veteran game industry developer, writer, archiver, and historian who is well known and respected in the Atari community. Marty’s articles can be found in many gaming publications, and he co-authored Atari Inc. Business is Fun, A Complete History of Atar Inc. in collaboration with Curt Vendel as part of their effort to preserve Atari history with their Atari Museum archive.

     

    The period during which Aquaventure is thought to have been under development was one of change and turmoil within the Consumer Division and at Atari overall. Atari was scrambling to cover losses from a steadily worsening video game market. During the summer Jim Morgan was named as CEO of Atari, replacing Ray Kassar. But at the time of the announcement, Jim was still employed by Phillip Morris and wanted to take a sabbatical so Manny Gerard was tasked with running the company on a day-to-day basis until JIm could officially step into the CEO role at Atari. As a result of all the change, it seems there was even less executive supervision of the consumer development team, and less reporting on their activity making its way up to the top.

    Jim Morgan started work at Atari on September 9th, and within a few weeks he issued a company-wide freeze on all projects and products in development. A month-long product-by product evaluation period followed during which a large number of projects were modified or completely canceled. Atari’s Ataritel advanced telephone division is an example of one large casualty of the process. It also caused delays in other products that were scheduled to be released for that holiday season.

    

    The two Aquaventure ROMs that have been discovered so far have July and August dates. From what Gary Shannon has recently related to Atari prototype games expert Matt Reichart, Aquaventure was done and ready to be released and as a result Gary was set up for receiving a deadline bonus. What most likely happened is that Aquaventure was a victim of the development freeze and resulting product culling as Jim Morgan looked to make the company’s offerings leaner to help Atari weather what some were nicknaming the “Atari Crash.”

    View the full article on the Atari® XP website

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14. 

    Sabertooth's Game Cave

    A blog by Sabertooth in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 20
      entries
    • 57
      comments
    • 11168
      views

    Recent Entries

    • 016 - YARS: RECHARGED
    • 015 - Asteroids: Recharged - An Update that Rocks!
    • 014 - JETBOARD JOUST (GOTY 2021)
    • 013 - Black Widow: Recharged
    • 012 - Centipede: Recharged is Retro-Modern Bug-Blasting Fun!

    

    Latest Entry
    

    016 - YARS: RECHARGED

    YARS: RECHARGED (VCS)

    Published 2022 (Atari)

    Developer: Adamvision Studios, Sneakybox

    Retail: $9.99

    YARS: RECHARGED is a modern take on Yars' Revenge, the 1982 smash hit for the Atari 2600.  Programmed by the incomparable Howard Scott Warshaw, Yars’ Revenge went on to become the best-selling original title for the platform.  This is quite a legacy to live up to.

    YARS: RECHARGED is available on multiple platforms, including VCS, Switch, XBOX Series X/S, XBOX One, PS4, PS5, Steam and Epic.

    Let’s take a quick look at the VCS version!

    TAKE CONTROL

    At its core, YARS: RECHARGED is a twin-stick shooter.  It borrows elements of Yars’ Revenge and combines it with a dash of “bullet hell” and a slick future retro aesthetic to deliver a fresh take on HSW’s classic.

    As with the original, you control a Yars, an insect-like space race that – according to lore – descended from the common house fly on Earth.  Of course, this being a modern, digital title, YARS: RECHARGED eschews any story that might have made its way into a manual or accompanying comic.  At any rate, the Yars are again at war with the Qotile.  It’s your job to take out Qotile defenses through 30 levels in either Arcade or Missions modes: for 60 levels total. 

    The first time you play YARS: RECHARGED you’re automatically taken to a quick tutorial to acquaint you with the game’s controls.   This is a first in the Recharged series and is a welcome addition to the game.  The controls are fairly intuitive and harken back to that old Atari adage “Easy to learn, difficult to master.” 

    Using the Modern Controller, the left thumbstick controls Yar’s movement while the right controls fire and aiming.  The controls are tight and precise, and I found the Modern Controller to be ideally suited for the twin-stick action. The game also offers support for the Classic Controller.  Use the rotary to aim your Yars and the joystick to maneuver.  It’s a novel way to play for fans of the VCS’ unique controller.

    

    Qotile defenses are hidden behind rows of hexagonal shields.  The shield strength is indicated by each hexagon’s opacity; near transparent shields are easily foiled, while solid white shields take a lot to break through.  The shields are frequently interlocked in a honeycomb and protect various “cores.”  You must shoot or “nibble” through the shields to charge your Zorlon Cannon, expose the Qotile Cores, and eliminate them as quickly as possible.  Eliminating the last Qotile Core will destroy all remaining enemies and clear the level.  There is a time bonus in both Arcade and Missions modes, so play strategically to clear each level as quickly as possible. 

    Enemy types range from the “Swirl”, Silorak Cores, and bullets coming from off screen.  The Swirl behaves in much the same way as it did in the 1982 original.  Watch for the Qotile Core to change into a Swirl and dodge or shoot it.  If your Yars is hit by a Swirl, its GAME OVER.  In later levels, there will be multiple Swirls to contend with.  Importantly, Swirls can penetrate the Glitch Shield to destroy your Yars. 

    The Silorak Cores serve as Qotile defense turrets and target you with spread shot, railgun, explosive shot and rapid fire.  When destroyed, these “minor” cores will drop a power-up the mirrors their attack.  The Silorak Cores are also tied to select shields.  As you attack a core, you’ll notice several hexagons flashing with each hit.  These will be destroyed once you take out the connected core. 

    Bullets coming from offscreen add a level of danger to the proceedings.  You’ll need to pay close attention to the patterns of the bullets to avoid hitting them. Alone they are easy to avoid, but with the assault from the cores, things quickly become chaotic. 

    Your greatest weapon against the Qotile onslaught is the Zorlon Cannon.  Only the Zorlon Cannon can destroy a Qotile Core.  Charge the cannon by nibbling or shooting enemy assets and collecting the resultant golden orbs.  Once charged, take aim and fire across the screen.  Timing is critical as there are frequently moving Qotile Cores and rotating shields. 

    When the Zorlon Cannon appears, so does the Glitch Shield.  The Glitch Shield protects Yars from all enemy weapons with the exception of the Swirl.  It dissipates as soon as your charge is depleted. 

    In Arcade Mode, the default setting provides the player with three hits.  The hit counter will refresh with each cleared level.  Taking a similar approach to Gravitar: Recharged, Yars offers the option to stack modifiers for bonus points.  Each modifier adds 2.5% to the score at the end of arcade play.  There are three modifiers:

    • The “Hyper” modifier dramatically speeds up your Yars. While this might seem like an advantage, it’s actually a bit unwieldy. 
    • The “Hunger” modifier eliminates your ability to shoot forcing you to rely only on your “nibble.”  The nibble is more effective and in early levels this too seems like an advantage.  However, in later levels the need for a ranged shot becomes clear. 
    • The “Heavy Cannon” modifier increases the damage of your cannon but takes longer to charge and moves slower. 

    The choice of whether or not to use a modifier adds an interesting strategic element to the game. 

    In Missions Mode, your goal is to complete the missions as quickly as possible.  The missions play like the hardest versions of the levels that you’ve already completed in Arcade Mode.  In this way, it feels like more of the same.  While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I personally preferred the creativity and variety of the goal-oriented Challenges Mode from earlier titles in the Recharges series.  One thing that I do like about Missions Mode is that score bonuses are displayed upon the completion of each level. 

    Couch co-op returns to YARS: RECHARGED and greatly enhances the game in either Arcade or Missions mode. 

    GRAPHICS

    The look of YARS: RECHARGED is reminiscent of the art style found in Gravitar: Recharged.  Backgrounds are muted and - with the exception of your Yars, the golden orbs and  Zorlon Cannon - monochromatic. The Yars itself looks nice and everything from the hexagonal shields to the in-game menus, to the Silorak cores are very clean.  Its functional but not terribly exciting to look at.  One wonders if the Geometry Wars inspired art style of the earlier Recharged games might have worked better here. 

    

    SOUND & MUSIC

    Sound is a weak point for YARS: RECHARGED.  For this outing, Atari has once again partnered with composer Megan McDuffee for the in-game music.  The soundtrack is stellar and some of the tracks have an almost cinematic vibe. McDuffee has definitely brought her “A Game.”  Unfortunately, the in-game music is barely audible with default settings.  It is utterly overwhelmed by the sound effects, including player and enemy shots and ambient sounds.  In order to enjoy the soundtrack, I had to go into audio settings, crank the music to 100 and reduce effects to 30.  My feeling is that there is some wave interference taking place between the competing sounds.  It’s truly a shame because the music really is fantastic. 

    As for the effects, they are just what you would expect from booming shots, lasers and spinning swirls. 

    CREATURE COMFORTS

    YARS: RECHARGED includes proper unlockable achievements which have become a staple of modern gaming. Some are progressive. Other achievements are awarded for completion of a single task. If you've played the other RECHARGED titles, these will be familiar to you. The inclusion of achievements is a welcome addition to the game, particularly on the VCS. However, as the VCS does not support trophies, the achievements are only viewable in-game.

    Fans of the highscore chase will be pleased to know that the game includes local and online leaderboards.  In Missions mode, scores are cumulative. This contrasts with previous entries in the Recharged series, where each mission had its own scoreboard. 

    

    OVERALL

    YARS: RECHARGED is a solid update to Howard Scott Warshaw’s 2600 classic. Atari and its development partners have a tricky balancing act with the Recharged series; at once satisfying longtime fans and introducing the brand and IP to new generations of gamers. With YARS RECHARGED, they have largely succeeded.  Some tweaks to the audio mix and goal-oriented missions would make this near perfect.  As it is, YARS: RECARGED is the best sequel to the original yet attempted. 

    Have you played YARS: RECHARGED on the VCS or on another platform? What do you think of the game?

    

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15. 

    Atari Lynx Handycast Podcast Feed

    A blog by Handycast Podcast Feed in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 10
      entries
    • 0
      comments
    • 822
      views

    Recent Entries

    • EPISODE 22: Paperboy
    • EPISODE 21: Robotron: 2084
    • EPISODE 20: Ninja 外伝 Gaiden
    • EPISODE 19: Tournament Cyberball 2072
    • EPISODE 18: World Class Fussball/Soccer

    

    Latest Entry
    

    EPISODE 22: Paperboy

    PLAY EPISODE 22 HERE

    

    
    

    #PA2041, Published by Atari Corp.

     In this episode I cover yet another arcade port for the Lynx, Paperboy, released in 1990. Included are statistics for the game and a run-down on how to play it, along with reviews and ratings, some fun facts and trivia, and lots of listener feedback about the game. Also in today’s episode: Monty and I talk about the lost art of delivering newspapers door to door.

    “Yes…it’s true…I once owned a Morris Minor to deliver The Heckington Hawker.
    Please don’t pity me.” -Monty

    The Paperboy upright arcade cabinet was released by Atari Games in 1984.

    PAPERBOY VITAL STATISTICS
    Release Date: December of 1990.
    Initial Retail Price: $34.99-$39.95 in the US; £29.99 in the UK.
    Cartridge Information: 128kB mono curved lip-style cartridge.
    Game Genre: Isometric-view 2-dimensional scrolling arcade game for 1 player only.
    Screen Playfield Orientation: Landscape (horizontal).
    Based On: The arcade cabinet of the same name released by Atari Games in 1984.
    Ports to Other Systems: Acorn Electron (1986), Amstrad CPC (1987), Apple ][ (1988), Apple ][gs (1988), Atari ST (1989), BBC Micro (1986), Blackberry (2009), Commodore 16 (1986), Commodore Plus/4 (1986), Commodore 64 (1986), Commodore Amiga (1989), DOS platform (1988), J2ME platform (2005), Nintendo Entertainment System (1988), Nintendo Game Boy (1990), Nintendo Game Boy Color (1999), Sega Game Gear (1991), Sega Genesis (1991), Sega Master System (1990), Xbox 360 (2007), and ZX Spectrum (1986).
    Sequels: Paperboy 2 for Amstrad CPC (1991), Atari ST (1992), Commodore Amiga (1992), DOS platform (1991), Nintendo Game Boy (1992), Nintendo Entertainment System (1991), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991), Sega Game Gear (1993), Sega Genesis (1992), and ZX Spectrum (1992).
    Game Levels: There are three skill levels: Easy Street (easiest), Middle Road (medium difficulty), and Hard Way (hardest). Within each of these skill levels, there are seven stages, one for each day of the week.
    Packaging: A full-color standard flap-tab regular-size box (5 3/8″ by 4 3/8″ by 7/8″). The French variant included a lapel pin and French-language manual, And the Japanese variant included Japanese verbiage on the box back, along with a Japanese-language manual. There was also a blister pack variant sold.
    Instruction Manual: A 12-page (including front and back covers) stapled regular-sized booklet manual in monochrome, measuring the usual 4 7/8” high by 3 ¾” wide. The manual was released in English in North America and in Europe, in a full-color Japanese manual in Japan, and in French in France. The manual was written by veteran Atari Lynx manual writer Scott Rhoades.
    

    Kieren Hawken’s interview with Paperboy programmer Al Baker from the February 2014 issue (#125) of Retro Gamer magazine. You can view a full-size version of the scan by clicking HERE.

    PAPERBOY CREDITS
    Original Arcade: Atari Games Corporation
    Publisher: Atari Corporation
    Licensee: Tengen, Inc.
    Developer: Al Baker & Associates
    Programmer: Al Baker
    Sound: David Tumminaro
    Original Art: Elite Systems
    Lynx Art: Nathan Baker 

     

    Be sure to check out our partner AtariGamer.com to stay “Lynxed In” to all of the latest news about our favorite handheld gaming console!

     

    LYNX LYNKS
    Kieren Hawken’s 2019 book “The A-Z of Atari Lynx Games Volume 1”.
    Coming Soon: “The A-Z of Atari Lynx Games Volume 2”!

    Information About Paperboy:
    Atari Age title info/rarity guide for Paperboy
    Atari Gamer title info/rarity guide for Paperboy
    Digital Press title info/rarity guide for Paperboy
    GameFAQs article about Paperboy
    Moby Games article about Paperboy
    PriceCharting.com value guide about Paperboy
    RarityGuide.com rarity/value guide about Paperboy
    Wikipedia article about Paperboy

    A comparison of the different home ports of Paperboy, published in the February 2014 issue (#125) of Retro Gamer magazine. You can view a full-size version of the scan by clicking HERE.

    Reviews and Ratings for Paperboy:
    Review by Gideon in GamePro (US; Issue #017; December 1990; page 148)
    Review in RAZE (UK; Issue #03; January 1991; page 47)
    Review by Robert A. Jung at IGN (1999)
    Review by The Video Game Critic (2005)
    Review by Brian Thomas Barnhart at Atario.io (2016)
    Review by Jon Mc at Atari Gamer (2018)

    YouTube Videos About Paperboy:
    Playthrough (World-of-Longplays)
    Playthrough (Atari7800com)
    Playthrough and Review (BTB/Lynx Lounge)
    Playthrough and Review (RetroGamerDaz)
    Comparison of Handheld Ports of Paperboy (The Laird’s Lair)

    Retailers Selling Paperboy:
    B & C ComputerVisions: US$9.95 (box only),  US$19.95 (cart/manual combo), US$24.95 (NIB w/damaged box) and for US$29.95 (NIB) through eBay under the user name MyAtari…check his online store on eBay for availability.
    Best Electronics (last updated October 7, 2021; check website for availability): US$14.95 (loose cart), US$19.95 (CIB).
    The Gamesmen (Australia): AU$24.95 (CIB).
    The Goat Store: None Available.
    Telegames (UK): £29.99 (CIB).
    Video 61 & Atari Sales: $49.95 (NIB).

    

    THE RESOURCES Page
    is where you can find a current list of after-market and
    home brew Atari Lynx titles,
    plus a lot of other information!

    “Thank You’s” and Other Lynks:
    Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast (Thanks to Brad Arnold, Randy Kindig, and Kevin Zavitz for the shoutout about The HandyCast in Episode 50!)
    AtariGamer.com (Thanks to Igor for incorporating The HandyCast into his excellent website!)
    The Atari 2600 Game By Game Podcast (Thanks to The Podfather himself, Ferg, for encouraging his listeners to check out The HandyCast in both Episode 151 and Episode 154!)
    The Atari Jaguar Game By Game Podcast (Thanks to Shinto for encouraging his listeners to check out The HandyCast in Episodes 22 and 26!)
    Curtis Herod (Cujo)‘s The Bl^ck Book v2  (Check HERE to see the now-expired Indiegogo campaign, where you can find out more about the book. And please consider purchasing Curtis Herod’s The Black Book v2 by emailing him at cujo86@gmail.com.)
    Gaming on Ten (Thanks to Nick and Don for encouraging his listeners to check out The HandyCast in Episode 09!)
    Into the Vertical Blank Podcast (Thanks to hosts Jeff and Steve Fulton for “singing” about The HandyCast in Season 1, Episode 10!)
    Please Stand By (Thanks to Zerbe and Ferg for helping to promote The  HandyCast on several episodes of this fun-to-listen-to show, starting with Episode 60!)
    The RCR Podcast (Thanks to the Retro Computing Roundtable: Paul Hagstrom, Quinn Dunki, Jack Nutting, and Carrington Vance, for highlighting The HandyCast in Episode 167!)
    The Retro MacCast Podcast (Thanks to Retro MacCast hosts James Savage and John Leake for highlighting The HandyCast in Episode 475!)
    Retro Video Gamer Forums (Thanks to Eugenio/TrekMD for helping to promote The HandyCast on his wonderful forums!)

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    Thanks go to everyone who contributed feedback about Paperboy (and other games) for this episode: Brian Bolding, Jeff Cossey, Derek Dash (tripled79), Eugenio (TrekMD), Kieren Hawken (Laird’s Lair YouTube Channel), imall543, Jon Mc (AtariGamer.com), Scott Rhoades, Shinto (The Atari Jaguar Game by Game Podcast), and Bobby Tribble. I really appreciate your feedback!

    Also, I would like to thank the Free Music Archive for the following musical artists and songs that were used in this episode under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: “8-Bit Core” by Tagirijus (opening and closing theme music), along with “Depth Charge,” “Elastic,” “Flow,” “Glass Ceiling,” “Twist,” “Underpass,” and “Wriggle,” all by Metre.

    Thanks also to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Cassandra Peterson) for the “Oooh, let’s party!” and “Leaving so soon?” digitized speech clips captured from the Atari Lynx game Pinball Jam that are used at the beginning and end of each episode of The HandyCast.

    I would especially like to thank Shinto for submitting his memories of various Atari Lynx games he’s owned in the past to The Atari Lynx HandyCast…they are greatly appreciated. And you should all check out Shinto’s wonderful Atari Jaguar Game by Game Podcast; it’s definitely worth listening to, even if you’ve never owned a Jaguar. You can find it here.

    Many, many thanks also go to Zerbinator for his continued support. His encouragement and expertise are very much appreciated by me. You can find all of his fun-to-listen-to podcasts here, including my favorite, Please Stand By.

    Finally, my thanks to the Podfather himself, Ferg of The Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast. His inspiration and dedication to covering every game cartridge ever made for the Atari 2600 (I think over 1000 of them!) is what gave me the courage to begin this podcast. Please, check out his don’t-miss podcast, even if you’re not an Atari 2600 collector; you should also visit his website here.

    I hope you enjoy this episode of The Atari Lynx HandyCast. And please don’t forget to visit the official Atari Lynx HandyCast website by clicking here!

    -Mark

    Next Episode: “EPISODE 23: A.P.B.”

    Listen to this episode at the Atari Lynx Handycast

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16. 

    Omega's Blog-O-Sphere

    A blog by - Ω - in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 4
      entries
    • 4
      comments
    • 1629
      views

    Recent Entries

    • My Atari 5200 Diary
    • One Man's Journey With The TI-99/4A (Part 2)
    • One man's Journey with the TI-99/4A Home Computer (Part 3)
    • One man's journey with the TI-99/4A Home Computer (Part 1)

    

    Latest Entry
    

    My Atari 5200 Diary

    This blog over the coming weeks and possibly months, will be about my getting back into the Atari 5200.  It'll have related YouTube videos, photos, comments and other neat stuff.  If you you have any questions or comment along the way, don't be shy, speal up! 

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17. 

    Games from Before My Time

    A blog by HDN in Atari I/O Magazine

    • 16
      entries
    • 22
      comments
    • 2199
      views

    Recent Entries

    • Metroid (and Metroid Zero Mission)
    • BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT: September is the Month of Metroid!
    • One year ago today, I got the system of my dreams.
    • The Ingenious Design of the Nintendo 64
    • Ranking the Classic 2D Super Mario Games!

    

    Latest Entry
    

    Metroid (and Metroid Zero Mission)

    Revolutionary.

    This word is tossed around a lot when it comes to NES games. Indeed, a lot of NES games were groundbreaking titles unlike anything else people had seen on the Atari 2600, Colecovision, or any other system prior to 1985. Super Mario Brothers was revolutionary because it offered a game with a size unlike 99% of the previous generation's games. Zelda was revolutionary because it had a massive open world with secrets to explore in every nook in cranny, offering an adventure so vast that it had a battery installed in the game to save one's progress across multiple sessions without the need of a password. But what if we took both these games and mixed them together? We perhaps get the most influential game Nintendo has ever published on the NES. This is Metroid.

    

    Metroid was unlike anything else when it came out in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. It barely had any precedent at all on home consoles at that point. The game had no score at all. It didn't even have levels (even Zelda had those to an extent). No, Metroid was truly a world you could explore to your heart's content. It seemed like there were secrets hidden everywhere, like there was no end to the game at all. Nowadays, the map of Metroid seems tiny, but back then it seemed to be a massive, sprawling, never-ending adventure.

    You start Metroid in the middle of a place called Brinstar. You control the little orange-and-red "space robot". He can jump shoot up, left, and right. He can't duck, he can't shoot down, he can't jump on enemies or shoot farther than a few feet from himself. In other words, you seem very limited and outmatched at this point in the game. Enemies are too close to the ground to be shot. You only start with thirty health and die in just a few hits. This is intentional.

    You head right, as anyone in 1986 or 1987 coming off of Super Mario Brothers would. Enemies crawl around the ground and swoop down at the space robot (maybe he's named Metroid?). You find out that shooting the blue hatches opens them and allows you to go into the next room. You keep heading right until...

    

    What's this? You're officially stuck. Remember, "Metroid" as we're calling him now can't crawl or duck, and the passage is too short to walk under. You TRY to duck under this passage, but pressing the down arrow doesn't seem to do anything at all. This means, at this point, there's absolutely no way to clear it. Out of desperation, you move left and realize that unlike Super Mario before it, Metroid allows you to go left. And if you keep going left, past the point in the game you started at, you'll find this:

    

    The game pauses for a moment as a jingle plays. This is the Morph Ball, sometimes called the Morphing Ball or Maru-Mari. The game doesn't show you what this strange ball-shaped item does with a text box or anything. It doesn't even tell you what the name of it is. But after collecting it, you'll soon find out that the passage you entered this place with is too high up for Metroid to jump to. The passage below you is too small to walk under either. So you try to duck again by pressing down on the D-Pad again, and this time something happens. That strange sphere seems to allow you to turn into a ball once collected! Now you can roll under the passage and get out of the area you got the item in. You immediately remember the narrow passage from earlier and start running right again, and this time, you're able to clear it. Then, Metroid truly starts.

    After this experience, you find out that Metroid is no Super Mario Brothers. This is a game you're going to have to pay more attention to. A game where you're going to have to spend countless hours looking for secrets that help you progress further in the game. You'll find obstacle after obstacle; blocks you can't break because you can't shoot down, red hatches impervious to your beam, areas too high to jump too, etc. Eventually, you'll find items like the Bombs, which are in Morph Ball mode and can be used to break blocks below you, Missiles that take out enemies quicker and let you open those red doors, and High-Jump Boots that let you jump higher than before. The Metroidvania genre is born.

    Let's back up a bit. What are you supposed to do in this game? Basically, there's a group of space pirates on the planet Zebes who are using and breeding life-sucking, jellyfish-like creatures called Metroids (yeah, you're not actually named Metroid, like how Link isn't named Zelda) to try to take over the galaxy. The galactic police have sent the bounty hunter Samus Aran (that's Metroid's real name) to defeat the space pirates alone. The brain behind the operation (pun intended) is the "mechanical life-vein" Mother Brain, who is basically a cybernetic supercomputer with extensive databases and networks throughout the planet. Her two main henchmen are the "mini-bosses" Kraid and Ridley, who live in their own lairs below Brinstar and Norfair respectively. While exploring the early parts of the game, you'll most likely come across a room with two statues and an inescapable pool of lava should you fall in. This is the road to Tourian, Mother Brain and the Metroids' hideout and the final area of the game. You'll need to come back to this place once you kill Kraid and Ridley. Then, once you shoot their now-flashing statues, a bridge will be built leading to the final stretch of the game. But first, you'll need to find them, which is easier said than done.

    Now is a good time to mention that the original Metroid on Famicom and NES didn't have a built in map. The game has five main areas to explore: Brinstar, a hub that connects most of the places together and is also the area you start out in, the firey Norfair, Kraid's and Ridley's lairs, and Tourian. That's quite a bit to keep in mind while playing, and in 1986 and 87, there was no Google to look for maps on. Your best bet was to draw out your own as you went along, or get Nintendo Power once that became a thing. That wouldn't be much of a problem if the game was easy to navigate on your own. Metroid requires you to take random shots in the dark until something works. For example, you may need to bomb a completely random floor tile in a random room that looks just like the hundreds of other floor tiles you've seen in the game to access a route to a boss's lair, or shoot out a random ceiling to access a crucial item. That's bad on its own, but Metroid also likes to blatantly copy/paste rooms over and over again. In Kraid's lair, for example, there are over a HALF-DOZEN rooms in the first shaft of the game that start out IDENTICALLY! This makes the game very frustrating to navigate around blindly, and coupling that with tougher enemies that hit harder in the later areas means that you'll end up dying a lot without making much progress.

    And that leads to another thing: dying. Dying in Metroid is brutal. Throughout the game, you can find energy tanks that increase your max health by 100 HP. Despite that, however, every time you die Metroid will start you off at the beginning of the area you died in with only 30 HP, the same amount you started with when you first arrived on Zebes. That means that you'll have to spend dozens of minutes of your time shooting enemies and grinding the health refills they occasionally drop. Each health pickup restores 5 HP, and the drop rates are very, very low. You'll likely spend your time standing in one spot next to an enemy spawner holding down the B button to shoot until you collect enough health to continue on exploring. There are no other ways to recharge your energy or missiles. This happens every single time you die, and you don't stand a snowball's chance in Norfair surviving unless you grind for health. The energy tanks do refill your health to the max, but there are only a few of them in the game and once you run out of them, you'll have to grind. This is EASILY the worst part about this game. Metroid is brutal, with hard-hitting enemies, instant death pits, and cheap deaths aplenty (you can even get killed during room transitions). This sucks the fun right out of the game for many people. I've gotten to the point where I almost never die in a playthrough, but even if you load up your game via a password you STILL start with 30 health and have to grind. This isn't fun. It's just padding.

    

    Throughout your journey, you'll find many more items to help you reach places you couldn't before. I've already mentioned the Missiles, Energy Tanks, High-Jump Boots, and Bombs, but there are much more than just that. Alongside Samus's peashooter he gets at the beginning of the game, he gets three more basic guns. The Long Beam is the only beam in the game that stacks on top of others in the game. This simply allows Samus's bullets to travel across the entire length of the screen instead of disappearing a few feet from his face. The other two beams, the Ice Beam and the Wave Beam, can't be used with each other. The ice beam will temporarily freeze enemies and allow Samus to use them as platforms, though they require twice as many shots to kill. The Wave Beam can travel through solid objects and travels in a sine wave pattern, finally allowing Samus to shoot the ground-based enemies shorter than him. Sadly though, the Wave Beam is somewhat pointless in the game as the toughest enemies in the game, the eponymous Metroids, can only be disposed of once frozen and shot with five missiles. Speaking of missiles, they are completely separate from the beam weapons. Missiles, unlike the beams, have limited ammo. You can increase your maximum amount of missiles you can carry by collecting more missile tanks scattered about the world, each one bumping the limit up by five. These missiles become quite important when it comes to the bosses and the final area of the game. You simply press the select button to toggle between the beams and missiles, and that's as advanced as inventory management gets in this game.

    You also have items like that Varia Suit and Screw Attack. These are completely optional and good bonuses for those who were able to find them. The Screw Attack charges your running jump with electricity, allowing Samus to instantly kill almost anything just by jumping into it. The Varia Suit (which can be seen in the second picture) is a pink palette swap of Samus that simply doubles his defense. The suit will become much more utilized in later games, but here it simply acts as a defense boost.

    Let's talk about those mini-bosses, Mother Brain's henchmen Kraid and Ridley. Technically, you're supposed to fight Kraid first, but the game is so open-ended and nonlinear that you can fight them in any order without the game stopping you. Kraid's lair is incredibly hard to navigate. The enemies do a ton of damage and the layout of the place is so confusing that it's nearly impossible to find Kraid without a map. It's so BS that you even find a fake version of the boss. Who does that? EVENTUALLY, you will find the real Kraid, though. He's easily the harder of the two. He'll shoot spikes out of his stomach and through his toenails at you without mercy. The best plan of attack here is to freeze the center spike in place, drop into Morph Ball mode, and spam bombs that'll hopefully blow up in his face. Hopefully you'll have enough energy to damage-boost your way through the fight and have Kraid die before you do. When he dies, you'll get 75 more missiles and begin the worst section in the game.

    There is a tower in the chasm that leads to Kraid's boss room made completely of breakable blocks. This tower is no wider than one block and goes up for several screens. You have to shoot a hole in the block tower, shoot the blocks above you, and keep jumping until the blocks respawn below your feet. This requires precise timing and persistence, as if the blocks respawn ON TOP OF you, you'll take damage and be knocked back, falling off the impossibly high tower and having to start all over again. This is outright terrible game design. I have the timing down now that I've played the game for years, but initially this seemed completely impossible. This has absolutely no reason to be in the game other than to pad the length and frustrate players. You're better off committing suicide back at Kraid's room and respawning back at the beginning of his lair.

    

    Navigating through Norfair will eventually lead you to Ridley's lair. His lair is a lot more straightforward and less labyrinthine than Kraid's, but the enemies are even more aggressive and dangerous to make up for it. Once you find Ridley, he's super easy. Simply freeze his fireballs midair (he won't shoot more until they unfreeze) and pump him full of missiles. Then he just dies and you get 75 more missiles. Yeah, if you couldn't tell, these first two bosses are terrible. This is one of the most broken boss fights in any game I've ever seen. I don't think I've died to this guy a single time before. But that's okay. The game more than makes up for it in just a few minutes.

    Before we get to that though, I want to tell you all about what this game means to me.

    One of my first games ever was Super Metroid, and it immediately became my favorite game. I was only four or five years old (I can't remember if it was 2010 or late 2009) when I started playing it with my dad (he did most of the playing anyways), and that experience really influenced my gaming tastes for the future. We did get stuck a few times, though, and used YouTube walkthroughs to help us. Sometimes the tab would be open and I would click around YouTube and watch the videos that they played. I couldn't really read at the time and just clicked the videos based on the thumbnails. Thankfully I didn't find any naughty things I shouldn't have been watching, thank God. What I did find was a different Metroid game. This game looked AWESOME to me back when I was little. It looked like Super Metroid, but the graphics weren't as good. I really wanted to play it. I assumed, based on the inferior graphics, that it was an older game, but I thought at the time it was the original Metroid. I now know it was actually Metroid 2 played on a Game Boy Player. So my dad, bless his soul, persuaded his brother to give me his old NES and went to the now-long-defunct Star Video and bought a used copy of Metroid for me. This was back in the day when you could buy expensive NES games like Metroid and Castlevania for like five dollars, which is what he paid for those two games. Only one problem though: the NES didn't work. At all. It was in the shop being repaired for what seemed like an eternity, and I spent much of my time laying on the sunroom floor, staring at that silver Metroid cartridge, waiting for the day to play it.

    When the NES finally was fixed, I eagerly popped in the game once my dad set the system up, and... I got this. I was completely wrong; the Metroid I wanted was actually the SECOND game, not the first! I was only disappointed for a second though. I really liked this game. I was terrible at it but I played it a lot. Though I still really wanted to play Metroid II, but it would be five years before I would have the chance to.

    My dad started up a caramel business in 2013 for reasons I don't want to get into here. He leased out a building that used to be a diner called The Villa to use the commercial kitchen in to make the caramel and sell it at farmers markets. Nothing was sold out of the building, so my sister and I had the entire front of it to ourselves. The front of The Villa was a piece of garbage, though the kitchen was perfectly fine. Every spring there would be a giant puddle of water in the middle of the place, and during the winter there would be no heating or anything. There were also no bathrooms. My parents didn't trust us kids home alone yet, so we had to stay there for hours at a time while my dad and his business partner Jon (same Jon as Atari Jon) made stuff. Our only entertainment was a couple of my sister's Barbies, the NES, and like seven games. One of which was Metroid. I remember playing that game quite a bit there and I have fond memories of repeatedly starting new games and telling myself I was going to beat it this time, only to get stuck in Kraid's lair and quit every single time. Still, it's a fond memory.

    I eventually got good enough at this game and beat it, though I gave in and used a map. I think I was 11 when I did this on the 3DS Virtual Console. Nowadays I can beat the game effortlessly with a map and well enough without one. I have had a map of this game and its direct sequel hanging on my wall for years now. I do love this game, though I will admit it has not stood the test of time.

    Anyways, let's see what Samus is doing.

    As you leave Norfair and make your way back to the statue room, you realize how powerful Samus has become. Rooms that you once struggled with now are cakewalks. As you climb the same vertical shaft you did at the start of the game to get to Tourian, you feel really good about how far you've come. As soon as you shoot the statues and build the bridge, though, that feeling of power turns into one of pure dread and helplessness.

    

     This is Tourian, the final area of the game.That green thing is a Metroid, this game's namesake. These are the toughest enemies in the game by far. They dart towards Samus with unparalleled speed and latch on to him, rapidly sucking his energy away. The only way to escape is to lay down bombs and hope the Metroid loses its grip. To kill one, Samus must freeze one with the Ice Beam and shoot it with missiles five times. Metroids are always generous enough to drop loads of missiles and energy when they die. And you'll need every bit of them you can get for the final battle.

    

    This is the final battle. Before this, Samus must shoot down several "Zebetite" barriers that can only be destroyed by missiles, which is a pain in itself. The fight against Mother Brain, though, stands alongside the block tower as the most frustrating part of the game. You'll need all the energy you can get to stand a chance here. The floor is lava and the platforms are small. Cheerio-like Rinkas and acid turrets are shooting at you as you try to pump Mother Brain full of missiles. These nearly-unavoidable attacks will send Samus into the lava, which is very hard to get out of. And remember, if you die here, it's back to the start of Tourian with only thirty health. Eventually though, you'll blow up Mother Brain, who will set off a self-destruct sequence that'll blow Tourian to smithereens. The last room of the game involves Samus climbing to the top of a large shaft on tiny platforms while a timer ticks away. If you make it to the top of the elevator and have beat the game fast enough, you'll see one of the most shocking moments in video game history:

    

     

    SAMUS IS A GIRL?!?!

    This came as a shock to many back in the day. You almost never saw a woman in the leading role of a game before. In most games at the time, women were the damsels in distress meant to be saved by a male character, like Princess Peach or Zelda. They were almost never badass, awesome space bounty hunters. The game's manual even keeps this a secret by referring to Samus using only male pronouns, which is why I used them in this blog up to this point. This game was incredibly progressive at the time, not just for influence but for women's representation in games. And though the whole goal of "beating the game faster so more suit comes off" isn't GREAT by today's standards, I suppose you have got to walk before you can run.

    So that's the end of Metroid. Has it aged well?

    NO.

    This game is frustrating in almost every way possible. I might like it, but I would never, NEVER recommend this game to someone playing the series for the first time. To the right kind of person, though, I'd recommend this game with a map. For most, though, Metroid is nothing more than a historical curiosity for those who just want to see where the series started.

    

    In 2004, however, Metroid recieved a full, ground-up remake for the GBA: Metroid Zero Mission. I won't be going into too much detail with this game (I might cover it more in the future), but I will say that it does improve almost everything from the original. The map is incredibly faithful to the original game, but slightly different, though that has the unfortunate side effect of making the game incredibly short. There are now save rooms and places to recharge your health and ammo. The secrets are more well-hidden and the levels better designed. The bosses are actually bosses this time, and there's more of them. Items and abilities from Samus's later adventures are here too. It even has a special surprise twist at the end. This game is pretty good and completely replaces the original, even going as far as including the original game as an unlockable when you beat the game on any difficulty.

    Zero Mission, unlike the original game, is a GREAT place to start with the 2D Metroid series. A little too great. You see, I actually don't care much for this game because I feel that it thinks I'm stupid. Metroid Zero Mission, to ME at least, seems like "Baby's First Metroid". Unless I'm trying to collect everything, I don't think this game is much better than "good". I seem to be the only person to think that, though, so please don't listen to me and play it.

    And that wraps up Metroid and its remake. These games are good, don't get me wrong, but as far as the 2D Metroid series goes, every other game in the series beats them to a pulp. I still pull out Metroid every few months and have a blast with it, and Zero Mission has been growing on me more and more the past few months since I got a repro cart for my GBA. All the 2D Metroids are great games, but these two are slightly less great than the rest, at least to me. This shows us, though, that there is a lot more to look forward to in the series. And that's coming very soon.

    Next week: Metroid's flaws are ironed out in my favorite Game Boy game, and Samus starts two new eras of 2D Metroid twenty-six years apart.

     

    I hope you are enjoying Month of Metroid so far. This took me a long time to write! Hopefully you guys like this and consider trying out the Metroid series. It's not my favorite series ever without a reason.

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