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New here, obviously. Saw the posts on Twitter and followed. Didn't realize it was a forum until I saw the post about the chat and decided to check it out. Thought, "Oh, they're doing a TurboGrafx R-Type scoring thing... I wanna put in a score." 😃 I'm in the East Texas area, about two hours East of Dallas. Been playing video games since my family first got a pong clone in the late 70s/early 80s. Been collecting for about 25 years or so, but still don't have a huge collection. Too many consoles, too many games, not enough money. The usual. Been member of the AtariAge forums for about ten years. Figured I'd branch out some. Pic is of me at the National Videogame Museum in Frisco Texas. It's a great place to visit if you're in the Dallas area.

Here's pics of my Intellivision stuff... Got all of this from a coworker. It was literally one of those, "Look what I found in my mom's attic" kind of deals. He tried selling it all to a local game store, but didn't like their offer then he came to me. I told him he should have come to me first. lol I offered him $50 and he accepted. Then I found out that I could only get $40 out as cash at the register, so I told him I'd owe him the other 10 and he said not to worry about it. The $40 was already over twice what the game store offered him. 😃 (Sorry the pics aren't that great... need to take updated ones. These are on my old apartment's kitchen floor and the dark color tile wasn't a good choice for a background.)

Congratulations Marco1019! Congratulations @Marco1019 on an excellent score! DINTAR816's Pac-Man-Man 8K was our first Homebrew Squad Challenge, I'm thrilled to see the turnout and enthusiasm for this game! Kudos to DINTAR816 for creating this amazing home-brew! It was great to have all of you jump in this challenge, and to welcome new member Marco1019 to the forums! Marco won the Squad Challenge with a high score of 146,770. @kamakazi20012 brought his A-Game with 61,140 points, and @RadioPoultry took 3rd with 47,560 points. @atarilbc scored 41,790 points, @TrekMD checked in with 37,750 points and @RickR was right on his tail with 37,610. @Atari Creep rounded things out with 11,680 points. I disqualified my score because I started playing the wrong ROM. Great showing guys! Congrats to everyone who played! I'd like to welcome Marco1019 to the Atari I/O Forums and encourage him to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and maybe this Challenge can continue on! Our next Squad Challenge will be for the TurboGrafx-16 and will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, April 16th. See you there! PAC-MAN 8K FINAL STANDINGS 1 MARCO1019 146,770 2 KAMAKAZI20012 61,140 3 RADIO POULTRY 47,560 4 ATARILBC 41,790 5 TREKMD 37,750 6 RICKR 37,610 7 ATARI CREEP 11,680

This is the Comlynx Cable I bought on a trip to Toys R Us with my family late one Friday night after school in the Fall of 1993. It was my first Lynx purchase and one of the first things I ever bought as a retrogamer. I had this tradition: Whenever I was super excited to get a new video game system, I would start my collection with something very small. Maybe an inexpensive game, or an accessory on clearance. That way, at least I’d have a little something to bring home and start my Lynx collection. It was something to pick up and look at a million times while I mowed lawns and saved up all summer to buy an Atari Lynx system and a few good games. I was 11 or 12 years old and it was my way of planting my flag in the ground and declaring “Hey everybody, this is the next frontier of my collection and YES I’m going to do this!” It was no easy task to save up $200-$300 when you’re a kid and this was my way of getting amped up and committing to saving up for a big purchase! I was planting the seeds of my collection. I bought this Comlynx Cable for $9 on that first night. The following Friday I returned to Toys R Us and bought a Lynx Sun Visor ($3) Lynx Pouch ($9) and Lynx Battery Pack ($14). I came home and placed everything on my shelf next to my Atari 2600 and 7800 collection - in a new “Lynx corner”. 26 Years later I still have this little Comlynx Cable, I just posted this on our Atari I/O Instagram account and I’m excited to be able to share this with you. My Comlynx Cable is like the $1 bill they have taped on the wall at every Chinese restaurant, it’s only a dollar but it’s the first dollar they ever made. I was just beginning my journey as a retrogamer, and trips to Toys R Us were the epicenter of my classic gaming passion. It was 1993, the 16-Bit console wars were raging and I was just waking up to the realization of “wait, hold up.. whatever happened to Atari?” Atari used to be everywhere… and somehow now it was gone entirely, with the exception of a few Lynx items in Toys R Us. I started visiting Toys R Us to see what Atari stuff I could find. After all, I hadn’t really looked for Atari stuff in a number of years, maybe I had missed something? By this time, there was nothing to be found of Atari 2600, 5200 or 7800 items. I found out later that whatever was left had all been clearanced out to make room on the shelf for Super Nintendo. The only classic Atari items I could find were off-brand “Gemeni” joysticks and paddle controllers, and an older-style TV switch box. Toys R Us still had Atari Lynx though, and that was enough. At the time, the bright colorful graphics and sound seemed amazing compared to Game Boy. I always found myself drawn to the niche video game stuff in Toys R Us, the Lynx stuff and the TurboGrafx stuff that was sooo good, but unloved and about to go on clearance. The Comlynx Cable was a multiplayer cable that let up to 8 Lynx units chain together for multiplayer games. Comlynx was originally developed to run over infrared links but was changed to a cable-based networking system before the final release. When players walked through the beam, the link would be interrupted. Todd's Adventures in Slime World was the first recordable 8-Player co-op game, and the only 8-Player game for the Atari Lynx.

Easter eggs!

I reached 89K on my stream the other night so I set my new goal for 100K. I set my new PB a short while ago: 146,770. I reached the 4th Key and stumbled a bit. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled with this run.

R-TYPE TurboGrafx-16 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default Achieve high score to win challenge Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST April 30th, 2019 OBJECTIVE: Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between April 16th through April 30th, 2019. Screen captures are not allowed as they are 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 rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Default. Press RUN to start. FAIR PLAY: 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 no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater. MORE: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: https://forums.atari.io/topic/1219-high-score-squad-how-to-play/ MESSAGE: Welcome to our 57th Squad Challenge! THIS 💥 GAME 💥 IS 💥 HARD! Absolutely unforgiving and so much fun. This time we're digging deeper into the TurboGrafx-16 game library and exploring a genre that shined on the TurboGrafx: SHMUPS. To RickR, Atari Creep, and others of you who are just joining the world of TurboGrafx, I highly recommend checking out this game, especially if you enjoy arcade shooters. TurboGrafx-16 did shoot 'em ups right! There are so many great ones to pick from on TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine, and today we're playing one of the very best. I think you'll agree that the TurboGrafx port of R-TYPE outshines the other home ports of the time. The graphics and sound really give this game a boost. Here's a PRO TIP: If you're playing R-TYPE on original hardware, now is the time to make the most of those rapid-fire Turbo Switches on your TurboPad controller. Explore the different rapid-fire settings and find the strategy that works best for you. ROM and Instruction Manual are provided below. Good luck to everyone playing! R-Type.pce R-Type.pdf

Is anyone else besides me swept up in James-mania? In case you haven't heard, the current champ is obliterating the Jeopardy record books. After 9 games, he already owns the top 3 single day earnings records. He's a machine. Ken Jennings holds the total earnings record in 74 games. James is on pace to break that record somewhere in the 20 game range. It's like Jordan, Tiger & Ruth in their primes, all rolled into one. Here's the first time he broke it (he's done it two more times & I have a feeling he's not done yet):

Sooooo... I finally have my game room/man cave/hideout nearly completed. I’m unpacking all of my stuff from the move two years ago & guess what? I need to purge more. I’m going to have a junk box or two of 2600 games, some Genesis games, more manuals & other stuff. I’m sure there will be some NES games too once I get to that box. Just like last time, I’m not looking for anything in return. HOWEVER, if anyone has any CIB 2600 games (that I’ll list in a separate post), that would be awesome. 😀 I’ll update this post as I keep unpacking & sorting. I just wanted to give you all a heads up. 👍

Hello everybody, It's been months in the making and now has come to big day, well tomorrow actually 😊. I am extremely proud to announce that the Kickstarter crowdfunding for the Atari: a Visual History start at 10am CET - 20th of April 2019I am extremely proud of the achievement and work on this first book under the "Greyfox Books" first debut publication and especially proud of this fantastic achievement and I will update this post tomorrow with the link to it's page and hopefully will have some of you along for the trip with me as I venture into the the world of bringing something special to all Atari fans around the world.Thank you guys 👍

Pac-Man 8K by DINTAR816 Atari 2600 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Default Achieve high score to win challenge Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / MAME / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST April 14th, 2019 Objective: Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between April 1st through April 14th, 2019. Screen captures are not allowed as they are 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 rules and game settings as delineated in the Squad Challenge. You may chose your preference of DINTAR816's Pac-Man 8K ROM. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level: Default. Press FIRE to start. Fair Play: 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 no use of cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, Photoshop, subterfuge, or any other unfair advantage is allowed. Everybody hates a cheater. More: To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: https://forums.atari.io/topic/1219-high-score-squad-how-to-play/ Message: Welcome to our 55th Squad Challenge! This time we're celebrating National Pac-Man Day on April 3rd by playing our first Atari Homebrew game in a regular Squad Challenge, Pac-Man 8K by DINTAR816! Pac-Man 8K shines in many ways that the original Atari 2600 Pac-Man release was lacking. DINTAR816 includes an arcade-like blue maze and black background, multi-colored ghosts and cutscenes just like the arcade version. Many consider DINTAR816's 8K version of Pac-Man to be one of the best for the platform. While still not arcade perfect, the 8K edition is closer than Atari's official version. Pac-Man 8K can also be commonly found on Atari Flashback consoles and handhelds released over the past few years, so this homebrew can be found at Walmart, Target, Sam's Club, etc. We're venturing into Homebrew territory as a fun way to celebration National Pac-Man Day 2019! We're also celebrating AtariAge user DINTAR816's contribution to the Pac-Man legacy on Atari with this masterpiece. We owe DINTAR816 a debt of gratitude for the time, effort and passion involved in creating Pac-Man 8K. THANK YOU! Remember to celebrate National Pac-Man Day 2019 on Wednesday, April 3rd and good luck to everyone playing! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad Challenge will be for the TurboGrafx-16! We also have a special one-day event challenge coming up as well. pacman2600_8k_v8test_corn.bin

I picked up this "Pac Man Game" last year. Heh... haven't played it, but it seems to be all there.

I got my TurboGrafx back in High School. Probably '91, but I don't remember exactly. I had been looking in gaming mags and watching the battle between the Turbo and the Genesis (SNES wasn't out yet). I finally convinced my parents to get me a TurboGrafx, but didn't know it right away. My dad and step-mom told my mom that they were getting me one for Christmas, and my mom told me so I could pick out a game I wanted (because she had no idea about games.) I picked Legendary Axe. The system came with a mail in offer for a free game that required filling out a card and sending in the UPC and proof of purchase from the box (so my box has some holes in it where I cut them out). The free game I got was Blazing Lazers. They also got me the TurboTap and an extra TurboPad. I don't remember the order in which the rest of the collection was acquired or years... I know that World Class Baseball, Psychosis, and Military Madness were all bought when the local Hastings store was selling their rental games. TV Sports Football and the controller extension cable (an actual TG extension cable) were bought from Turbo Zone Direct vial mail order. But the others, I'm not sure... some Ebay, but don't remember which ones exactly. But the last game I got for it was Ninja Spirit and that was about five years ago. Most of the stuff was bought before prices skyrocketed. Hard to justify or afford games these days. lol

On real hardware, real HuCard, using standard TG controller. I've only gotten past the third level once... and didn't last long when I did. This score is from tonight. 4/17/19

And HOLY HELL it looks good.

Congrats! Your number came up! You have 3 days to send me your address to claim your prize pak! (you could send it through the messenger here, or to my facebook)

No world record, but not bad for a days work! Thanks for doing this again Justin! It's so unique to have a Tax Avoiders day!!!

47,560. Blinky is really out for blood in this one. Amazing port!

An egg or a bird eh? Hmm... How about both!? 😜

SWEET! I'll get it started with the first Easter egg for my all-time favorite game. Adventure. Thank you!

This is great!!!!!!

WOW @nosweargamer what a super generous giveaway! I'll be sure to get the word out!

New score. Small improvement.

41,790 On a 4-switch Woody VCS via Harmony using a Coleco Gemini controller.

True story: I was playing the 8K version the other day when my wife arrived home from work. She watched for a while. When I died, I said what most of us have said: "Wow, if Atari had released this version, we would have all sh@t our pants in amazement". My wife: "This isn't the real version?". Me: "No, this is a homebrew". W: "Show me the real one". So I did. Her response: "Wow, that's terrible". Pac Man and Defender are the two games that shattered the illusion of Atari greatness for me. I was at that same show as TrekMD with Tod Frye. He's a nice enough man, but I don't think he'll ever admit any wrong-doing. It's always: "Atari policy on black backgrounds" and "Limited time" and "2nd player took up all memory". All bad choices. I think the Atari community would be a lot more forgiving if he'd just say "I'm sorry, I made some poor choices. I was new, and didn't have good feedback". Boom. Forgiveness would be his. All they had to do was get a group of kids to play test some of the games as they were being developed. I would think most kids at the time would have steered the developers in the right direction as the games were coming along. I never owned Ms. Pac Man for 2600 back then. I moved on to other systems by the time it was released. I was amazed at how good Ms Pac Man and Jr. Pac Man are when I started collecting. If Pac Man had that same quality, I probably would not have moved on. Most of the GCC 2600 games are incredible. Too bad they came along after a lot of games had moved on. I know it's so easy to go negative. I'm sorry. But I'm just being honest. I bought Pac Man and I played it a lot. What else could I do? That $30 was a lot of money for me back then. But I never liked the game. It's completely devoid of the charm of the arcade version. Tod Frye can stick that vitamin block in his fruit hole.

Todd Frye had no clue, did he? He didn't get the idea that porting a hit arcade game meant you do everything you can to get as close to the arcade hit as possible. He'd never played the arcade Pac-Man. "People freaked out with exits at the top and bottom. I don't get that!", he says. That's because those "exits" are not where the arcade game had them...at the sides. And they are "tunnels", not exits. "My maze was simple." Um, no, your maze was a mess and not accurate to the arcade. That maze was designed that way for a reason. It gave the players a maze where strategy played a key role in surviving a single game for a long time. Changing the maze removed that strategy...and the reason why people actually played the game and why Pac-Man became a huge success. That and it has lovable characters each with their own personalities...none of which the 2600 received. Not poking but those comments were just an insight that the Pac-Man game he was playing in the video might very well have been the closest he got to how Pac-Man really was. "Colors are bright." That's how it's suppose to be. Very little flicker...a timing thing. However it is expected to see some flicker in 2600 games due to its nature. Bottomline...no game will be a huge success if money is the sole reason for which it is made. For a game to succeed, no matter what platform it is created for, it needs to be developed by those that love the game they are working on and not expecting any money at all. If that can be accomplished then the chances are that the final product will be a success. Money-for-profit should always come second in game development, not first. Gearbox, SCS Software, Giant, and many other indie developers are examples of this. A single game idea where the game was built in spare time with little to no financial support turned into some of the biggest modern franchises to date. Borderlands, Euro/American Trucking Simulators, Farming Simulators (now at 2019)...and just look at Minecraft. All key examples.

Why? Why? Why? Why wasn't this the first version of Pac-Man the 2600 got? This is AWESOME balls!! I've got to get this on cart some how. This is BEGGING to be played on real hardware. Here's my score so far. And I am including one screenshot only to provide a clearer picture of the score. It serves no other purpose.

I reached 54K last night while streaming, then topped that score a short while ago: 76350 The challenge in figuring out strats is that the monsters reverse course more frequently in this 8K version.

This is a fantastic port of the game and, by far, the best version on the 2600. FYI - Dintar816 is actually on version 8 of the build. The link to the most recent build is here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229152-new-pacman-for-atari-2600/?p=4131166 It improves corning and plays even more closely to the arcade. Also, note: If you're playing on a console, the right difficulty switch controls normal and fast modes. Assuming we're playing in the "normal" mode that starts slow? The interview with Tod Frye clearly shows why he was the wrong person to handle an arcade conversion. The deadlines he was dealing with notwithstanding, if you don't get why exits at the top, maze layouts and color schemes are a big deal, you shouldn't be handling an arcade game. I say this as someone who grew up with 2600 Pac-Man and really enjoys that game.

A local news station did this piece from 1982: https://wnep.com/2019/03/25/video-vault-video-games-just-a-fad/ Games shown: Galaga (Midway) Ms. Pac-Man (Midway) Pac-Man (Midway) Congorilla (Orca) Space Battle (Mattel Intellivision) Tempest (Atari) Monaco GP (Sega) Super Cobra (Stern) (unknown game to left of Super Cobra) Asteroids (Atari) Battlezone (Atari) Challenger (Centuri) Vanguard (Centuri) (unknown Universal game to right of Vanguard)

😎 LOVED seeing the gang in Chat last nite! Thank you @RickR @Atari Creep @btbfilms76 @nosweargamer @Dan Iacovelli @GervGirl @jmjustin6 @chas10e& @Marco1019 for joining us!

Dude, i'm always in, but seriously, what 2600 games are you looking for?

The Kickstarter project is now live, please head over to visit http://kck.st/2VWXiNo and let's make some magic!

I've been on a Game Boy kick since the Super Mario Land high score challenge. I thought I'd share the games I've acquired lately:

212100

Furthermore, how cool that you kept the original console AND the box, and all the various pieces of your collection. I have my original boxed Atari 2600 from my youth, but I stupidly threw out all the boxes for the games.

E.T. Atari 2600 | Brian Plays

Congratulations Marco! That is one awesome score!

This version truly is incredible. Honestly, I completely forgot I was playing a 2600 game, it feels so much like the real arcade version. Really great controls too. This actually beats the 5200 version due to the speed and controls.

I think that I'll give this another shot. 🍹

NICE collection, and great idea on the backup folder. I'm going to do the same.

That should count for TWO entries.

This is one of my favorites...

For me it depends on the system. On the 5200 its Pac-Man but I like Ms on there too. The 7800 has the best port of Ms. Pac-Man, period. There's no competition there. Jr. Pac-Man on the A8 and 5200 are really good as would have been Super PAC on the 5200. On a side note...wife and I have been playing a farm game. In the game you can hunt down 100 gold nuggets for an easy $1M earning. While hunting I ran into this building with a gold nugget on top...

As a kid it was 2600 Pac-Man, kid you not. I didn't know it was supposed to be bad until I got in the retro scene after 2000. Yeah, it had a different color scheme, but those sound effects were very iconic and I still had fun with the game.

At long last, Sean is back with a new episode about the newest game released for our beloved console! http://homebrew78.fab4it.com/media/hbh_episode_049.mp3

Congratulations spkr! Congratulations @spkr on an excellent score! Buggy Boy was our first Atari ST Squad Challenge, and I was even less certain about having a good turnout for this first ST game as I was for our first Game Boy game. It was great to have all of you jump in this challenge, and to welcome new member spkr to the forums! spkr won the High Score Squad Challenge on his very first post to the forums with a high score of 94,240. @RadioPoultry brought his A-Game with 88,680 points, and @kamakazi20012 was right on his tail with 84,740. @Kid A checked in with 80,540 and @RickR rounds things out with a score of 66,800 points on his gorgeous customized Atari 520 STFM setup. Great showing guys! Congrats to everyone who played! I'd like to welcome spkr to the Atari I/O Forums and encourage spkr to post his new high score on the Scoreboard, and maybe this Challenge can continue on! Our next Squad Challenge will be taking us back to the Atari 2600. We're going to be celebrating a new take on an old classic. See you there! BUGGY BOY FINAL STANDINGS 1 SPKR 94,240 2 RADIO POULTRY 88,680 3 KAMAKAZI20012 84,740 4 KID A 80,540 5 RICKR 66,800

VERY COOL! From the link: Sega also revealed that AtGames, the company behind 2017’s poorly received Sega Genesis Flashback, is no longer involved in its production. Instead, longtime collaborator M2 is handling the ports, having previously delivered high-quality conversions for the SEGA AGES series and SEGA 3D Classics Collection. The following 10 games were unveiled for the North American and European editions, with more to be announced over the coming months. Sonic the Hedgehog Ecco the Dolphin Castlevania: Bloodlines Space Harrier 2 Shining Force Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine ToeJam & Earl Comix Zone Altered Beast Gunstar Heroes