Scott Stilphen

The Berzerk Enhanced Edition is NOT the same as Mike Mika's Berzerk - Voice Enhanced version that he released in 2002.  The new version offers robots with diagonal shooting.
The system is most certainly running an emulator.  The CPU is the same as used in the Retron77, which means the 2600+ has all the same incompatibility problems as the Retron77.  This also means flash carts like the Harmony and ARM-based homebrews won't work.  Also, the games listed on Atari's compatibility chart marked as 'untested' very likely don't work.  In other words, it's just another Retron77, with the additional feature of being able to run 7800 carts.  It's odd that the system is compatible with 7800 carts, yet the only joystick being sold is the standard (1-button) model.

It was done 7 years ago by John Mikula:
With Atariage soon to stop selling unlicensed arcade conversions, prototypes, and hacks, everyone can now look forward to more original content like this 😐
 

There's a thread on KLOV about these, and someone just posted about their experiences working at one.  Btw, does anybody have photos of one?
 
Quote: Originally Posted by Cidco  The Electronic Experiance arcades were owned by United Artists theaters and usually appeared in malls that had a UA theater. In addition to Golden Triangle in Denton, there were also Electronic Experience arcades in Northeast Mall in Hurst and Crossroads Mall in Greenville. One of the cool features of the arcade were monitors hooked up to the newest games embedded in the wall facing out into the mall proper. This allowed you to see if they had any new games without even going inside the arcade. 

Their sign was neon with an infinity mirror, but also had white lights around it that further enhanced the infinity mirror effect. Similar to the back glass of the Space Invaders pinball machine. The entryway also featured shiny red tile all the way around. I haven't had any luck finding pictures online of an Electromic Experience arcade. I've found one picture of Golden Triangle Mall taken in 1981, but it's just of the center court. I can find pictures of every other major arcade chain online, so it really drives me crazy I can't find anything from Electronic Expierence. 

I grew up in Decatur 30 minutes away from Denton, so I spent a lot of time at Golden Triangle and the Electronic Experience arcade. I actually have an Elevator Action and an Atari 720 machine that were purchased from the arcade. After the video game crash UA got out of the arcade business. So the Electronic Experience arcade closed in the mall and a Tilt opened up at another entrance across from El Chico. It wasn't as big and never had the same attraction to me as Electronic Experience did. Posted by SpaceTime
Hello, 

Thank you for posting this! Your description is fairly accurate. Electronic Experience was operated by United Artist Theater Amusements and we would occasionally trade games with the theater behind the Golden Triangle Mall in Denton, Texas.. We were also allotted free movie passes. 

Here is my story of what it was like working at the peak of the video arcade boom.

I worked at Electronic Experience (“The” is not in the name) for a few years and am seeking photos also. I keep hounding my old manager for them who I am still in contact with. I know he has some. We had an annual Christmas party after hours that featured a keg. Those are the photos I am looking for.

The red neon sign was infinity as you say but the white marquee bulb lights were mounted under it on a mirrored ceiling (but not infinity) lighting the entrance foyer. The red tiled wall did have multiple monitors horizontally and vertically randomly arranged. Our technician, Bob Bender (RIP) performed a small miracle getting those analog signals to the remote monitors. It took four or five shielded RF cables per game to feed the remote exposed monitors in the “radiation closet” as I called it. High voltage monitors sitting on open shelves in a narrow passageway. Eventually, only one or two monitors displayed new games. The others stayed the same.

The arcade had four full range speakers from Radio Shack and a stereo receiver and a separate cassette deck. You probably were listening to my mix tapes on Friday or Saturday nights. The rest of the time we tuned to different radio stations.

We were allowed to play free games off the clock using red quarters. These were regular quarters painted with red nail polish so we could deduct them from the count. They were also used to credit a machine for a customer that lost a quarter.

Our biggest money maker was Dragons Lair at .50 for three lives. That machine was minting quarters at about $3000+ per week if I remember correctly.

Only one floor walker worked a shift and we had to dust the tops of the machines nightly. Glass was cleaned throughout the day. The insides of the games were dusted and vacuumed on a regular basis. Scuff marks on the cabinets were buffed out with black shoe polish. We also dusted the monitor under the glass which would accumulate dust quickly. Occasional visits from the home office resulted in a military type inspection for cleanliness. That arcade was spotless! 

We un-crated new games on a regular basis and tested them in the back room before they went to the floor. The prying eyes were dying to know what was back there. It was a small back shop and when I was in the small office I would leave the door open so people asking for change other than what the Rowe bill changer provided could preview the games. We installed a shaded pole squirrel cage blower in the back door of the cabinet of all new games to exhaust hot air. Needless to say, our A/C ran continuously but it maintained about 72 degrees unlike some arcades. Nobody anticipated the heat being generated by these machines. Once I found out that the air filters in our units on the roof of the mall were caked with dust, I changed them regularly and that improved the A/C even more. What a stupid place to put them!

Leaving the shop while on the clock was prohibited so for food the floor walkers had to get some kid to pick up a phone-in order to a food place in the mall. The compensation was free games as long as they were at the arcade that day. We would put the red quarters in the machine for them for credits. Ten to twenty free games was a pretty good deal for running an errand. I would give them cash to pay for the food.
Some kids said no, afraid that they would get in trouble for leaving the arcade (beginning of the helicopter parent). We got to know the regulars as this was their big Friday or Saturday night. After a while, the regulars were checking in to see if I needed any food. If not, I would have them pick up a soda. We didn't have a refrigerator.

I worked at several arcades during the boom and Electronic Experience was by far my favorite. I made so many friends working at the mall. Eventually I was promoted to assistant manager and was responsible for the banking and the count. We had a special arrangement with the bank to purchase loose quarters in bags of $500 each. Busting rolls of quarters was pain. We quickly became a known as a source of $1 bills and quarters throughout the mall. We didn't mind changing the stacks of $1 bills to the local merchants because we literally had piles of them. Some of the merchants had privileges set up by my boss and always got all the free games they wanted and my boss got free meals everywhere.

Great memories!
 

Btw, did anybody know there were 2 different versions of Cybermorph?  The 1994 cartridge version is different from the 1993 version.  The 1993 cart is a 2mb cart and the 1994 cart is 1mb.  Atari had them cut speech and animations out of the later version so they could fit it onto the smaller cart.
http://www.atarijaguar.co.uk/2014/10/a-tale-of-two-cybermorphs.html?m=1

Found this on Instagram.  Sent this to a good friend of mine who had this memory to share:
"I paid 40 bucks for Asteroids, I'll never forget it.  Went to 4 or 5 stores when it came out and they were all charging 45-50 bucks and already sold out.  Ending up standing in a line in JC Penney's that went out of the store all the way out into the mail itself to get a copy, it seemed like they had hundreds of copies for sale.  Same thing with Missile Command; that was also an expensive cart when it was new."
 

You're right, Gas Hog doesn't belong in that sub-list.  I forgot you couldn't shoot up (and I even have the WR for the game :/)

The manual for Gas Hog is on my site: https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/manuals/vcs/vcs_manuals.html
You can only shoot left or right, not up.

The manual for Gas Hog is on my site: https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/manuals/vcs/vcs_manuals.html
You can only shoot left or right, not up.

That's Spacechase.
There's dozens of derivative Space Invaders ports for just the VCS alone (Deadly Duck, Beamrider, Juno First are a few others).  SwordQuest FireWorld (the Fire-Breathing Dragons mini-game) and the 2nd screen in Gremlins are 2 more.  Same in the arcade - countless knockoffs and variations of that same theme.  Any game that restricts the player to movement in only one axis while shooting at enemies/targets covers a lot of games, such as Carnival, Shooting Gallery, Space Jockey, Wabbit, etc.  Galaxian (and it's sequel Galaga) was a variation of Space Invaders and basically could be considered a separate category, where the 'invaders' would split off from the main formation and drop down to attack you, which of course spawned its own knockoffs (Condor Attack, Demon Attack, etc).  Centipede and Millipede are essentially Space Invaders and Galaxian, that allow for a little movement beyond simply one axis (Spacechase and Time Warp are 2 more).  Moon Patrol is another sub-genre that offers shooting in 2 different directions, and includes games like James Bond 007, Mission Survive, Space Cavern, etc.  Games like Scramble (and its sequel, Super Cobra) are an 'evolution' of that same premise and allowed the player to move anywhere on the screen while shooting AND bombing enemies, so with those you get variations like Fantastic Voyage, Name This Game, Xevious, etc.  Vanguard came out later in the same year as Scramble allowed for shooting in 4 directions, and Space Tunnel (re-released as Cosmic Corridor) is a very basic version of that.
As you can see, there's a LOT of games that sprung from Space Invaders 🙂 So, if you're looking to make a list of all the Space Invaders-type games, you need to specify to which degree as to which games are included.

That's Spacechase.
There's dozens of derivative Space Invaders ports for just the VCS alone (Deadly Duck, Beamrider, Juno First are a few others).  SwordQuest FireWorld (the Fire-Breathing Dragons mini-game) and the 2nd screen in Gremlins are 2 more.  Same in the arcade - countless knockoffs and variations of that same theme.  Any game that restricts the player to movement in only one axis while shooting at enemies/targets covers a lot of games, such as Carnival, Shooting Gallery, Space Jockey, Wabbit, etc.  Galaxian (and it's sequel Galaga) was a variation of Space Invaders and basically could be considered a separate category, where the 'invaders' would split off from the main formation and drop down to attack you, which of course spawned its own knockoffs (Condor Attack, Demon Attack, etc).  Centipede and Millipede are essentially Space Invaders and Galaxian, that allow for a little movement beyond simply one axis (Spacechase and Time Warp are 2 more).  Moon Patrol is another sub-genre that offers shooting in 2 different directions, and includes games like James Bond 007, Mission Survive, Space Cavern, etc.  Games like Scramble (and its sequel, Super Cobra) are an 'evolution' of that same premise and allowed the player to move anywhere on the screen while shooting AND bombing enemies, so with those you get variations like Fantastic Voyage, Name This Game, Xevious, etc.  Vanguard came out later in the same year as Scramble allowed for shooting in 4 directions, and Space Tunnel (re-released as Cosmic Corridor) is a very basic version of that.
As you can see, there's a LOT of games that sprung from Space Invaders 🙂 So, if you're looking to make a list of all the Space Invaders-type games, you need to specify to which degree as to which games are included.

Missile Command was never a light gun game, and trying to adapt it to use one would have resulted in a completely different playing experience.  Support for the trackball could have easily been done, and wasn't.
No, Crack'ed wasn't a light gun game from the start, but both the VCS and 7800 versions of Crack'ed should have been designed to use one.  The original version released for the Atari ST  used a mouse, and supporting the trackball would have offered the same experience, but as you mentioned, using the joystick results in a terribly unfair and unpleasant experience for the player.
 

Yes.  List updated.

List updated.

List updated.

Listed updated.

List updated.

List updated.

Now expanded to include more home systems as well as arcade.
https://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/prototypes/prototypes.html

Now expanded to include more home systems as well as arcade.
https://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/prototypes/prototypes.html

Now expanded to include more home systems as well as arcade.
https://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/prototypes/prototypes.html

Now expanded to include more home systems as well as arcade.
https://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/prototypes/prototypes.html

Found this on Instagram.  Sent this to a good friend of mine who had this memory to share:
"I paid 40 bucks for Asteroids, I'll never forget it.  Went to 4 or 5 stores when it came out and they were all charging 45-50 bucks and already sold out.  Ending up standing in a line in JC Penney's that went out of the store all the way out into the mail itself to get a copy, it seemed like they had hundreds of copies for sale.  Same thing with Missile Command; that was also an expensive cart when it was new."
 

Found this on Instagram.  Sent this to a good friend of mine who had this memory to share:
"I paid 40 bucks for Asteroids, I'll never forget it.  Went to 4 or 5 stores when it came out and they were all charging 45-50 bucks and already sold out.  Ending up standing in a line in JC Penney's that went out of the store all the way out into the mail itself to get a copy, it seemed like they had hundreds of copies for sale.  Same thing with Missile Command; that was also an expensive cart when it was new."
 

Found this on Instagram.  Sent this to a good friend of mine who had this memory to share:
"I paid 40 bucks for Asteroids, I'll never forget it.  Went to 4 or 5 stores when it came out and they were all charging 45-50 bucks and already sold out.  Ending up standing in a line in JC Penney's that went out of the store all the way out into the mail itself to get a copy, it seemed like they had hundreds of copies for sale.  Same thing with Missile Command; that was also an expensive cart when it was new."
 

Everything works.  Games are:
Demon Attack
Carnival
TRON Solar Sailer
Boxing
Skiing
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
 
$100 shipped.  PM me if interested, thanks.