Scott Stilphen

Atari's Night Driver was actually a knockoff of Dr-Ing. Reiner Foerst's Nurburgring 1, as was Ted Michon's Night Racer. Here's more info about them: http://jalopnik.com/5906386/meet-the-doctor-engineer-who-basically-invented-the-modern-racing-game http://weltenschule.de/vgames/Nuerburg/Nuerburgring.html http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=night-racer-sit-down-model&page=detail&id=1393

Here's a video of the C64 Cali Games one, which is pretty neat: With Tau Ceti, if you type a curse in the game (like “f--k” or “c--t”), you’ll get a message saying, "Just because I'm a machine doesn't mean you can insult me. You'll be SORRY in 10 Seconds...." and the bottom of the screen will have a scrolling message saying, “Same to YOU with Bells on”. The screen will start shaking and go black in 10 seconds!

Very cool discovery! There's a few more things in Apple II Gumball: http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/applegumball.htm Don't know if any of those are in the Atari 8-bit version.

There used to be hobby/model stores everywhere in my area years ago. Now there's only 1, and half the store is a hardware store. Kmart used to carry Testors since they had model kits in the toy section. Perhaps they still do. Walmart might as well.

List updated

Neither was Ms Pac-Man (though Namco and Midway were consulted by GCC over a few aspects of the game) They're still Pac-Man games, though.

List updated.

I wasn't about to spend 1 cent on that book, especially since most of it is online for free at Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=3FwGMtRafrAC&pg=PA001&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false Of all the books I've ever read, I have never come across one so appallingly bad as that one, that contains nearly every conceivable grammatical error possible. It's as though it began as 2 separate books that ended up having a head-on collision with each other, and that's the result. The punctuation and spelling errors alone should have been enough for any publisher to refuse it (their posts on Atariage are pretty much the same. I'm quite certain Goldberg still doesn't know Berzerk contains a 'z' instead of an 's'...), but when the tense starts changing all over the place, and you have photos with the incorrect captions (or quite often, no captions)... it's just a mess from cover to cover, and an insult to anyone with a basic grade school education to try and read it, let alone those with higher education, but then to charge people some $80 for a copy? And at the end of the day, that's what it comes off as - a money grab. Leonard Herman told me he sent a copy to Ralph Baer, and he put it down after a few pages. Shame he attached his name to it. The editor, Loni Reeder, used to write articles for RePlay magazine. She was never an editor, and judging from the condition of the book, she still isn't. She happens to be a friend of Vendel (and I'm guessing her name was attached for no other reason than she used to be associated with an industry mag). They go back as far as 1999, when Vendel was involved in a scandal involving that year's CGE show: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/rec.games.video.classic/3Hlg1l8T16U (major thread on CGE/Nolan scandal. Loni is posting under "LONBO") https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/rec.games.video.classic/6m6KDatifpo (vendel’s famous backing-out letter, posted under the fake account “mylar”) What happened was, Vendel wanted to be part of the CGE show, and the people organizing the show had prior (bad) dealings with him, so they weren't about to team up with him. Vendel decided to try and sabotage the show, using a fake email address that appeared as though he was part of it. He succeeding in convincing Nolan Bushnell (who was planning on attending the first CGE show) via Loni Anderson (who was the contact person between them) to back out. When the organizers found out what he had done, they publicly outed him on the newsgroups, and a huge flamewar broke out over it. Vendel responded by erasing not only his posts, but some from others as well, which resulted in even more backlash against him. He broke a cardinal rule of the newsgroup in an effort to "calm things down" (ie. save face), but that's typical Vendel. Even the much-touted photos need to be fixed. Photos from the 80s and earlier commonly suffer from incorrect color saturation (usually too much red). The photos on page 786 are a perfect example of this: https://books.google.com/books?id=3FwGMtRafrAC&pg=PA786&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false How much time would it have taken someone to color-correct them? Well, it took me less than 5 minutes with Photoshop to drastically improve them. I'm not sure what they did in the claimed 7 years of putting this book together, but I can tell you what they didn't do... Lost Dragon, it sounds like you've done some comprehensive research in the Panther's history, as far as which games existed for it. If everyone you've talked with said there were no "cross-over" games between the Panther and Jaguar, then you're probably right. If they want to claim the opposite, they need to reveal their source(s), especially since as you mentioned, they're charging people to buy their book.

There's some info about Frye in the VCS FAQ: http://www.ataricompendium.com/faq/faq.html#general25 Frye has contradicted himself more than once, especially when it comes to specifics. But generally, he wasn't rushed with making VCS Pac-Man (Atari signed the licensing deal for it sometime in 1978, well before the game became a huge hit) and all the design choices were his and his alone. Frye is a very good technical programmer, but not one for making games that were interesting or having a lot of replay value. The fact is, VCS Pac-Man is atrocious. Most of his VCS games were either never released (Save Mary, Shooting Arcade) or finished (Ballblazer, SwordQuest AirWorld, Xevious). Even his Atari 8-bit computer Asteroids is clunky. The one SwordQuest game he did finish and release (FireWorld) was a disaster, along with the whole contest. He actually never understood why people flipped out over the fact the tunnels in his Pac-Man were on the top and bottom, instead of the sides, as the above video shows. And that's the essence of why his games (especially his arcade conversions) really aren't anything special. Todd wasn't a gamer, he was a programmer. To him, making games was simply a project to be completed, like making a deck. You get some boards, you put some posts up, and you nail all the boards together. Pac-Man was a maze game with dots and tunnels and 4 enemies, so he made a maze game with dots and tunnels and 4 enemies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebr9caOVlaU&feature=youtu.be&t=12m25s (jump to 12:25 to hear his comments about Pac-Man) In his mind, it was "Mission Accomplished". Making the game look or sound even remotely close to the arcade version simply wasn't a priority of his, and yet... that was the first thing everybody noticed before they even played it. And of course once they played it, they realized it had even less in common with the arcade game. Nobody expected it to be as good as the latest homebrew version (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229152-new-pacman-for-atari-2600/) but there's been several hacks and homebrews in the last 15+ years to prove a better version could have absolutely been done with only 4K, so there's really no excuse for why it's so bad other than he was the wrong person for the job. Yep, Hiro's original artwork makes perfect sense since he depicted them as monsters and not ghosts

And there lies the problem with their book, for all the claims it makes are 'absolutes'. They claim they vetted all their information from multiple sources, and would like you to believe that somehow every previous book and article on the history of the company somehow got it wrong (because they can't be wrong). I have links to some of the more egregious errors they've made in my Pac-Man article (http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/915-). I pointed out another one on Keith Smith's site, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (https://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2015/01/atari-depositions-part-1.html), courtesy of a professional author and historian, Leonard Herman. Vendel and Goldberg claim Bushnell still worked for Nutting when he attended the Magnavox Calvacade and first saw the Odyssey, even though he didn't work for them. They claim Bushnell left Nutting on June 1st, but they picked that date out of a hat because they have no physical evidence to back it up. From Leonard: So there's a perfect example of them putting a spin on a specific event to fit their opinions (assumptions). If they're willing to make an unfounded statement like that, then you have to scrutinize and question everything they say. Your info about the Panther/Jaguar games is another example. I remember reading somewhere the claim that the early Jaguar titles were originally designed for the Panther (which was the excuse for them being lackluster). They claim to have spend 7 years investigating and interviewing people, and yet the book is filled with very few direct quotes from anyone. And when such errors are pointed out to them, their reaction is instinctively to attack and insult. With every interview I've done (50+), I not only include a person's replies to me verbatim, I give them the courtesy of proofing the final draft before it gets published; in other words, they have the last word. I bought Lapetino's book (both versions) and it's very well done, but I do have some issues with it (most books on the subject do). On the other hand, Atari: Business is Fun has more than a few; it's nearly impossible to read due to being an incomprehensible mess, and is the sort of book that's ultimately a disservice to the company and its rich history, if not an outright danger to it..

The +5v isn't used for the joysticks, so if it's completely dead, the first thing to check would be the ground pin. It's always worth reflowing the solder on those controller ports, especially after nearly 40 years of use Next would be the 4050 chip as someone else mentioned. Last would be the RIOT chip.

In the book, "Art of Atari" by Tim Lapetino, the following info appears on page 264: Both Vendel and Goldberg are mentioned in the acknowledgements section, so it seems their book of errors has started to contaminate others. At least Lapetino states the crown was "allegedly" awarded (since, as I mentioned, no evidence has been shown to prove it ever happened). There's also some neat promotional artwork for the Philosopher's Stone that appears in his book, as well as a nice copy of the AirWorld box art:

Up on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291930793389 Cool stuff, though I don't think it's worth anywhere near what it's listed at. The seller even copied the text and a photo from one of my articles: http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_nr/vcs_nr.html#combattwo Michel Allaire also did the box art for VCS RealSports Baseball and RealSports Football.

They removed the comment about neither VCS game being released, but didn't mention that Pigs in Space was released (I even sent them scans of the box, cart, and manual). Ah well. That site doesn't have much archived material anyway. I found this bit about some special recordings the 'real' Pigs in Space made for an early NASA space shuttle mission: http://www.ebay.com/itm/132018022818 They have 2 of the scripts they wrote, but not the actual audio recordings.

Mostly in the early 80s, when the VCS popular worldwide. Here's a list of several more: http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_system/faq_atarivcs.html#hardware4

You only showed 31 games: Space Jockey Football Flag Capture Golf BASIC Math Basketball Slot Racers Blackjack Tennis Bowling Air-Sea Battle 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe Combat Skiing Human Cannonball Miniature Golf Stampede Othello Sky Diver Checkers Space War Slot Machine Bugs Dragster Outlaw Sky Jinks Home Run Surround Fishing Derby Boxing Laser Blast Here's a photo of it with the box: http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_system/faq_vcs_system_2600_console.jpg That page says it either has 64 games or 128 If you notice, the sticker in the upper-left says 22 games with the switch to the left, and 64 to the right (for a total of 86?): http://itools.com/tool/google-translate-web-page-translator Looks similar to this JR with 128, but the sticker in the upper-left corner may be different: http://www.2600connection.com/faq/vcs_system/faq_vcs_system_vcc_2600.jpg

Thanks for posting this. I emailed someone with the website and mentioned the error to them. I got a reply thanking me so hopefully they'll fix it.

Here's a few more VCS-based custom cabinets:

S&H depends on how many carts you order. List was updated as some were sold.

Last updated 1-27-2024 All cartridges are tested before shipping. Photos of cartridges available upon request. ATARI 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (missing end label) Adventure (picture label - missing end label) Air-Sea Battle Air-Sea Battle (picture label) Asteroids Asteroids (no copyright onscreen) Backgammon (picture label) BASIC Programming (missing end label) Basketball (yellow text) Basketball (orange text) Basketball (1987 Atari Corp) ($2) Basketball (picture label) Battlezone (screw hole exposed) Berzerk Blackjack Bowling (red text) Bowling (picture label) Breakout Breakout (picture label) Canyon Bomber Canyon Bomber (picture label) Championship Soccer (missing end label) Circus Atari Circus Atari (picture label) Combat Combat (with box and manual) ($3) Combat (picture label) Crystal Castles (missing end label) Defender Demons to Diamonds Dodge 'Em Dodge 'Em (picture label) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (orig. label variation) Flag Capture (green text) Flag Capture (orange text) Flag Capture (red text) Football (green text) Football (picture label) Galaxian Galaxian (missing end label) Golf Golf (picture label) Haunted House Home Run Home Run (picture label) Human Cannonball (picture label) Indy 500 (picture label) Indy 500 (missing end label) Indy 500 (spring dust cover) (1988 Atari Corp) ($3) Jungle Hunt Kangaroo (1988 Atari Corp) ($3) Maze Craze (picture label) Miniature Golf Missile Command (lower-case letters) Missile Command (lower-case end label only) Missile Command (upper-case letters) Missile Command (no "RF" Easter egg variant!) ($5) Ms. Pac-Man (missing end label) Ms. Pac-Man (1987 Atari Corp) ($2) Ms. Pac-Man (1988 Atari Corp) ($2) Night Driver Outlaw Outlaw (picture label) Pac-Man Pac-Man (dust spring cover) ($2) Phoenix Pole Position Raiders of the Lost Ark RealSports Baseball RealSports Baseball (1987 Atari Corp) ($2) RealSports Football RealSports Football (1987 Atari Corp) ($2) RealSports Soccer RealSports Tennis ($2) RealSports Volleyball Sky Diver (1986 Atari Corp) ($3) Space Invaders (text w/o Taito copyright) Space Invaders (text w Taito copyright) Space Invaders (picture label) Space War (missing end label) Space War (picture label) Star Raiders Street Racer (yellow text) Super Breakout Super Breakout (1987 Atari Corp.) ($3) Superman (picture label) Surround SwordQuest EarthWorld SwordQuest FireWorld Vanguard Video Checkers (missing end label) Video Olympics Video Olympics (picture label - green end label) Video Olympics (picture label - yellow end label) Video Olympics (picture label - yellow end label) Video Pinball (1987 Atari Corp) (screw hole exposed) ($2) Warlords Yars' Revenge 20th Century Fox M*A*S*H Meltdown ($15) ACTIVISION Bloody Human Freeway ($15) Boxing Dragster Enduro ($3) Grand Prix Ice Hockey Megamania (with box) ($5) Laser Blast Stampede ($2) Starmaster Tennis COLECO Carnival Donkey Kong DATA AGE Airlock Bermuda Triangle ($3) Journey Escape GAMES BY APOLLO Infiltrate (Apollo variant - missing top label) Spacechase personalized/monogrammed edition ($35) IMAGIC Atlantis (daylabel version) Cosmic Ark Demon Attack (text) M NETWORK Air Raiders (missing label) Armor Ambush Astroblast Dark Cavern Football Lock 'N' Chase Space Attack Super Challenge Baseball Super Challenge Football PARKER BROTHERS Amidar ($2) Star Wars: Jedi Arena ($3) SPARROW Arkyology ($20) TELE-GAMES Asteroids (64 variations) Asteroids (64 variations)(no copyright onscreen) Asteroids (66 variations) Basketball Blackjack Breakaway IV (missing end label) Canyon Bomber (missing end label) Chase (missing end label) Circus (missing end label) Haunted House ($3) Missile Command Poker Plus (missing end label) Space Combat ($2) Space Invaders Speedway II (missing end label) Tank Plus (missing end label) Target Fun (yellow text) U.S. GAMES Commando Raid ($3) Space Jockey Towering Inferno Word Zapper XONOX Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris Superkicks ($10) Price: $1 each unless noted otherwise + S&H $10 minimum order PM me to order or with any questions

Yep, that's a custom one-off cabinet someone made. The Todd Rogers "Challenge Edition" was something Todd asked me years ago if I could make for him (but I couldn't). He wanted a version of Kaboom! that only had one bucket (i.e. 1 life). He also wanted a 1-life version of River Raid.

I wrote an article about this years before that book came out, where I detailed the history of when the monsters in Pac-Man became ghosts. Here's a copy of the article: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/pac-man_monsters_ghosts/pac-man_monsters_ghosts.html The authors of that book took issue with it because it didn't jive with their pre-conceived assumptions. Yes, yes they are. But more than that, their book is full of incorrect information, which I mentioned a few examples of in my article.

Currently have an Asteroids. Price is $100 shipped. PM me if interested, thanks.

HSW also said he spent very little time putting in his Easter eggs, as in a matter of minutes, and he did that at the very end of the project (i.e. last day).

There's no one exact orange b/c consoles were made in different plants in different countries. I use 3 different oranges (Glidden Brilliance Collection) to match whatever console I'm working on.