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Nope. This is one Atari I have no interest in. Personally, I feel the Amico and Tommy are doing a much better revamp/revitalizing than Atari is at the moment. But that's just my opinion.

👉 New High Score Squad Challenge will debut March 15th! PM me w/ any games you'd like to nominate this year!

Interesting game from the early 80's by CinemaTronics!

I have a new score! And I got it with the sound off! LOL

On second thought...it's not too bad a price -- it's only $1 per "Where did YOU learn to fly?" on a game of Cybermorph.

I just played some more and got a much better score.

I found these for those who grab used games without manuals. These are for the ST. https://archive.org/details/AtariSTManuals_201812/mode/2up

@Atari Creep had a harsh video on this recently, he was pretty critical of "Atari" in general:

It's difficult to be excited about the modern VCS. The noise being generated does not inspire confidence and there is very little actually being shown that demonstrates progress. Intellivision Corp is doing a much better job, without question, with the Amico.

Here's one of my favorites. A custom Space Rocks Starplex controller.

I have several controllers for the 2600 as well. Here are pictures of what I have in my collection...

Decided to do a controller smack down this weekend. It's been a hot minute since I've played any games so I thought I'd break out a few of my favorites and play them with different controllers. Should be fun!

Back in 1982, the department store Boscov's held some Atari VCS contests, one being for Pac-Man. Entrants had 2 attempts to score as much as possible in 5-minute long games. After a few attempts, I got a 5,200, which ranks as the 3rd-highest, according to this article. I'm assuming this contest was on game 1 with difficulty B. I used this free PC app to time my efforts. https://free-stopwatch.com/ Pretty impressive that someone nearly cracked 8k on this.

INTRODUCTION How would you like to learn how to make a game for your favorite Atari console or computer? Here's the thing...it's one thing to know how to write code that these machines understand but it's an entirely different aspect to actually sit down and plan out a game idea. It will require patients, dedication, and imagination. It will also require respect of other games because those games are going to be protected by their owner but it is not wrong to use other games for inspiration. What this guide will attempt to teach are ways to get ideas started. If knowledge is gained and used regularly to get game ideas down the world of Atari might see more great games in the future. Everyone who has played Atari games will have favorites but will also have questions as to why a game didn't do something here or there. This would be the chance to answer those questions even if it means creating a new game from scratch. There are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost...this guide will in no way attempt to teach programming. That is for another topic for another day. "Then why is this topic posted under the PROGRAMMING section?" Because in order to program a good game one needs to know some common steps and mindsets to make a game. This will be easy for some, challenging for others. It is thought, and hoped, that by posting something like this here others reading this will share what they've done and others will provide creative criticism to aide in what others are doing. The whole idea is to gain knowledge on some insights as to how the games we enjoy playing are generally made. The concepts that will be shared here are just the basics. It will be up to those reading this to take what is being presented here where they want to go with it. Also, not everything has to be shared. If an idea comes to mind that you want to try to finish it's OK to keep it under wraps until the project is close to completion. With all of that said there are a few things we need to get started. These are: Graph paper Pencil or colored pencils It will also help to decide which Atari console/computer that is of most interest. While I can't go into all of them it will help to see which one gets picked the most so there is some idea on how to go about working out the rest of this guide. Which means this will be done in parts, about a week or two between each section. This gives plenty of time for topics to be absorbed by those interested and time for members to post questions and responses. It also gives me time to work out the direction to take. What To Expect By the time this series comes to an end members should have the abilities to create graphics/sprites to use in their game projects, be able to express the kind of sounds/music they would like to have in their game, be able to have/tell the story behind the game, have everything they need to storyboard a game from start to finish. What NOT To Expect What will not be taught here is programming. This post's only concern is to teach how to put a game idea on paper that has everything it will need. We will not be going over how to program the 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bits, ST, Jaguar, Lynx, or any other game console or computer. That is for other posts which will be more time consuming than actually designing. We will get into those later but the first concept is to get those ideas down on paper. Why paper and pencil? Paper and pencil don't require batteries Paper and pencil won't forget what is made with them Paper and pencil won't get a virus or malware attack Paper and pencil are portable Paper and pencil are cheap and available everywhere school supplies are sold So we are not going to be writing a 2600 game...at least not yet. But what we are going to do is get ideas down on paper. Where do we start? With a story. The Story The story to a video game does a few important things. It iis the building blocks and glue that put the game in perspective. It also gives life to every aspect of the game. Imagine, for example, Kangaroo. Its story explains how monkeys kidnapped Mama Kangaroo's Joey and now she has to rescue him. From the story the rest of the game can be thought out. What are the characters to be or look like? How is the player going to accomplish the task or tasks in the story? As with Kangaroo we have a Donkey Kong style game where Mama Kangaroo has to climb trees. She has to fight off monkeys, jump gaps, climb ladders, just to reach her Joey. So see what kind of story you can come up with. Remember, it's OK to get ideas from other games already available. What's not OK is to use anything from those games. I hope others find this series of interest and I look forward to reading what others come up with. Before I go I have to express one thing: never let money be the only reason for making a game. The number one reason for making any game should be for the love of video games or the machine the game is being designed for. If a game is being designed strictly for the money then don't bother trying because games made where money was the only reason for making a game were never successful. I want to see games where this guide helped them get started to be successful. Coming up with a game concept just for the money is actually a waste of time. See you in the next post!

You're welcome but I won't be teaching programming this time around. What I'm after is those interested in making video games to have the basic knowledge and understanding of what it takes to make a game. I'm also going to be expressing what making a game should be all about. I don't want people coming in full force and making games just to make money. Money should never be the reason behind making games. Those that do that don't and never will care about the video game community and we don't want that. I want people that want to make a game because of their passion for video games and the machines whether it be one or many. If people coming here because they want to make a game but they haven't got a clue on where to begin then I hope this guide will point them in the right direction to having all of their ducks in a row. It is soo much easier to come to the programming stage after spending time putting together everything conceptual on paper from the story to character designs to world appearances that are to be put in the game. There is a reason to my madness for doing it this way that will all come together in the end.

How about a new episode? Stay safe, everybody! In this chapter: ∙ How to Do a Podcast - perhaps something to do during your quarantine? ∙ Yes, And - tales of an improv dropout ∙ Music for Schnooks: "Going" - arguably the most significant lyric in The Beatles' entire discography https://www.schnookpodcast.com/audio/Schnook_Chapter19.mp3

What are some of your favorite '80s movies that might be considered "under-appreciated" or "forgotten"? i.e. not a blockbuster major studio franchise? I was just thinking about rewatching Down And Out In Beverly Hills and how that movie really takes me back to that place and time. Is it the best movie of the 1980s? Probably not. But it's iconic of California in 1986 and I like rewatching it occasionally. It always puts me in the mood for 8-bit gaming! ☺️ Movies like Back To The Future, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and E.T. tend to rank up there on our list of "Favorite '80s Movies" and are discussed frequently, but what about everything else? What are some of your favorite '80s movies out of your VHS collection that haven't been brought up in a while?

took this pic awhile ago ...figgered it'd make good wall paper every once inawhile they will fall off the little ledger I have there I look for 'em at thrifts open 'em up the instructions usually have a parts list so I'll take the time too see if it's complete I try and find stuff from the earliest patent of the game (like first editions I guess) ... IMHO ... if it looks old its pretty cool ... my family doesn't alway agree ... I still haven't played my 1934 Monopoly yet ;"( for family gatherings I usually take 4 or 5 games with me. they also have favorites of their own. some winners I brought were "The Amazing Race", "Score Four", "Trouble", "Dynamite Shack" ... they always have a "scabble-off" "Settlers of Catan" ( or just Catan ) is wildly popular the card games like D&D ain't my thing I would like to learn how to play "Go" I have one with the stones & all .... one of these days I guess

SNK / Atari Ikari Warriors

New Episode- Ikari Warriors 7800

Go Fish! Atari 2600 Video Computer System Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST March 31st, 2020 Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between March 15th through March 30th, 2020. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level Default Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message Welcome to our 75th Squad Challenge! We're keeping it nice and relaxing as we get back into the swing of things for a new season of High Score Squad with Go Fish on Atari 2600! Go Fish! is a 2005 homebrew game from Bob & Tommy Montgomery loosely based on the Intellivision game Shark! Shark! From the description on AA: "you are a wee fish and to survive you must eat other, smaller fish to grow. But watch out for the shark, as he's also on the hunt for food and you could be his next meal! Go Fish! features extensive, continuously-playing music (with an option to turn it off for those who'd rather do their fishing in quiet), as well as a two-player battle mode." NOTE: Upcoming Squad Challenges will be simple and straightforward until the site issues are completely resolved. We'll dive deeper with some fun Squad Challenges this summer. Thanks for playing, and enjoy! GoFish.bin

A nice silent 1844

Great score @TrekMD! I'm not sure I can beat that one, but I'll try. I also prefer no sound. It's just a little less distracting.

Jennifer Connelly is also in the movie "Phenomena." It is like a horror-suspense movie.

I think extended version was made only because people were maxing out the score and I think perhaps it doesn't revert back to zero. I am guessing the extra digit capabilities makes the ROM size much larger than the origonal 2k I dunno the file size of what's on my cart ok the AA store says the filesize is 8k .... NOW the question is .... what's that 2k file that's on your Harmony :P I'm ok with the 1368 score just put an asterix beside it 😉

Thanks guys, and I do apologize for running that extended version. I need to spend some time cleaning up my harmony cart "homebrews" directory. There's a lot of extra versions. But it's a daunting task. So many files.

Anyways, here's the last score I got with my copy from AtariAge: 1488

1600 with the version in the first post. Sorry for causing any confusion.

WINNER: kamakazi20012 Centipede Atari 7800 March 22, 2020 ROUND 1: @kamakazi20012 ROUND 2: @Justin ROUND 3: @kamakazi20012 Went at it for 3 rounds of Centipede with Kamakazi on the 7800. He won the 1st round, I won the 2nd, and he clenched it with the 3rd. Kamakazi won best of 3. This was actually a lot of fun! I know he felt the same. We'll be doing this again soon. Good game Kamakazi!

This announcement was posted today on the PRGE web page. Sad news but a decision I can certainly understand. I do hope, however, that the virus has been controlled by the date the event was planned. PRGE 2020 is cancelled It is with a heavy heart that we must announce that the 2020 Portland Retro Gaming Expo is cancelled due to the uncertainties associated with the Coronavirus pandemic. It was a very tough decision and was not made lightly. This is the first time in 15 years that we have ever even considered not having the event. Our concern is that we can't provide the same high-quality show while protecting our attendees and speakers. Specific challenges include: [li]We are a 100% non-profit, volunteer-run organization and do not have the resources to accommodate pandemic-related changes to our existing show management process.[/li] [li]Recruiting enough volunteers to staff the event is a challenge due to anxiety over the pandemic.[/li] [li]Many of our arcade and pinball game partners are justifiably unable to volunteer games due to anxiety over the pandemic.[/li] [li]There is public apprehension about being in crowded spaces and it's not clear that this concern will be reduced by August. Even a moderate reduction in attendance would put our event at financial risk for the future.[/li] http://retrogamingexpo.com/

Back in the lounge shooting more episodes, we have all the time in the world.

831 wow a shark came outta nowhere while I was trapped between 2 long fishes ... I was a pretty tasty treat for him I have been starting with the difficulty on "B" or beginner as a tiny fish .... I dunno what Default is on Stella but curious to know

273 I do happen to have the cart & manual game-play: "eat or be eaten" eat fish your size or smaller .... your fish will grow @ 5; 19; 55 & 132 on novice setting avoid jellyfish , electric eels & sharks I am going with this image thinking I had more than one life, hitting the button after death starts a new screen (new score)

Oceo Team has released a new game for the Atari Lynx titled Lawnmower. Right now the game is only available as a free binary but there are plans to release it in cart with, perhaps, more features. They are looking for feedback to further improve the game. Download Here

Right-click where it says 499 Items on the PDF option on the web page. You will be able to download all as a ZIP, or right-click on PDF on Firefox. It should give you the option to download as a ZIP as well. Be warned: it is 1.3 GB in size. If you have a fast Internet connection, and I assume that you do, it will download in 10-20 minutes. Thanks.

Wishing our very best to the physicians and medical professionals working day and night on the front lines of this⚕️

What Are Hot Wheels ID Cars? Hot Wheels ID cars look like the standard Hot Wheels cars. In reality these ID cars are unique. Each car has a tag on the chassis that can be scanned in to a mobile device. From there the car can be used in dedicated ID physical tracks and in the Hot Wheels ID racing app for Android and iOS devices. The physical tracks use a Bluetooth connection to a mobile device while the app allows scanned cars to be used in racing games against AI and other racers. Everything that car does stays with that car. All ID cars can be upgraded in the app for better performance. Hot Wheels ID Overview Where Can I Find Them? Hot Wheels ID cars have been located in Target stores. These are usually in a small white and orange box costing between $6 and $8 per car. I'm unsure if they are found any where else physically. These can also be found on Amazon and Ebay...if you want to pay premium prices for them. So What's The Big Deal? Most recently Mattel decided to include ID cars in the standard blister packs although sporting a similar white and orange theme over the standard blue theme. These are now being called "Chase Cars" and for a good reason. Any Hot Wheels collector may know about the rare Treasure Hunt and Super Treasure Hunt cars that are randomly packed in with standard cars. These are highly sought after by collectors and are often worth more than any single basic car. Now imagine something being more rare than either a TH or STH Hot Wheels car. Go on...keep imagining. That's where these ID Chase Cars fall. It's said that these are more rare than the Treasure Hunt and Super Treasure Hunt cars. It's been reported that one store opened up four cases and never seen a single Chase Car although they found two Treasure Hunt cars in those cases. But the nice thing is that if you do find one the price is the same as a basic Hot Wheels car. So if the store you are visiting sells Hot Wheels for a dollar and you find a Hot Wheels ID car in a blister pack it will be a dollar also. So the next time you go Hot Wheels hunting keep an eye out for any Hot Wheels ID cars. These are very collectible already with some selling for upwards of $80 on Ebay. Of course the whole idea is not to make a quick buck but it doesn't hurt to find 'em and hang on to them or even use them (you can scan them without opening them) but I suggest not opening them. Hot Wheels ID Chase Car on EBAY Also...the reason why I posted this under collectibles is because the Chase Cars are becoming collectible in a short amount of time and if others here hunt for Hot Wheels cars I thought they would like to know about them. Enjoy your Hot Wheels … and Atari, too!

I got this on email today and thought I'd share it (I've even kept the formatting!). Excited or not, here you go... Excited for the new Atari VCS? Join the waiting list to get one first. Join Waiting List When the Atari VCS is available we will email you. You will have 48 hours to purchase before losing your spot. There is no commitment to purchase. Want to jump the line? Pre-order the Atari VCS now. Preorder Now ________________________________________________________________________________ The Atari VCS will ship in the following order: 1. Original Indiegogo backers who have prepaid for Atari VCS (sold out) 2. Individuals who have pre-ordered via AtariVCS.com or one of our retail partners. 3. Individuals on the Atari VCS waiting list

Oh dear...let's see. Lethal Weapon Wizard Clue Garbage Pail Kids TMNT (but I don't remember if the 1st one was an 80's film or early 90's) I personally prefer the second one. Caddyshack Heavy Metal remains my number 1 favorite mostly because of the music and artistic style of the film.

There's a lot that come to my mind: Blue Thunder - The fancy helicopter movie starring Roy Scheider. The Thing - John Carpenter remake is absolutely riveting to watch even now. Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan. I don't think we'd have any Star Trek nowadays if this movie wasn't so good. Big Trouble in Little China - An action movie that's FUN from start to finish. UHF - Weird Al at his finest. Down and Out -- I had forgotten about that, and I definitely need to rewatch. Nick Nolte was huge in the 80's. Deservedly so.

PS - Richard Dreyfuss has looked 60 years old for the past 30 years 🤔

With the lighting it's hard to tell if that is a Vader or Woody. But it looks like the 2600 is working to me! I like that old-school TV, too. Sometimes those old Atari's worked best on those older non-cable ready TVs.

I updated my post. I had forgotten to add my Starplex controllers!

My favorites at the moment are: A customized CX-40 that I got from @AtariBrian He replaced the little metal indent switches with microswitches. It's awesome. SlikStik. The custom pad I got from @StormSurge. Perfection in pad form. I think it's made by Retrogameboyz. But my memory is weak. And PS - I've wanted a Starplex for a long time. I saw one recently and was always thought it would be bigger. Still, I want one.

Of the controllers I tried out, here is my ranking from worse to best: 1. CX-24 2. CX-78 3. CX-40 4. My DIY arcade stick 5. Hyperkin Ranger 6. Robotron 2084 Dual Pad 7. Hyperkin Trooper 8. Coleco Gemini Dual Command I should note, all controllers performed reasonably well except for the CX-24. I'm continually impressed with the Hyperkin Trooper and Ranger. You honesty can't go wrong with either of these for a modern replacement. Also, the Robotron pad is great, but a bit heavy if you don't need the second pad due to the extra cable. I'd consider the single pad version. The Coleco Gemini Dual Command was the most consistent performer. It's also the controller I grew up with, having had a Gemini. That may have something to do with my ranking but it really did feel great despite being about 37 years old.

How true!

Well. There's something the 2600 never lacked: A healthy dose of 1st and 3rd party controller options.

We are working out a few minor problems before publishing Putt 18 for 7800. We have also Tile Smashers in the works along with a few other popular titles we done on the 5200 and 8 bit.

hi everyone, we are getting further on, here is a youtube of the beta version we are testing. This is an early preview of the prototype version of "Putt18" for the Atari 7800 game system, from Video 61 and Atari Sales. NOTE: This is an early prototype of a game under production. Things are subject to change. Thanks for watching! lance www.atarisales.com