DCG

That stinks! I'm curious: Do you think it's just the Galaga music at the beginning of the theme they're flagging?
 
 
The audio bots only seem to care about what they hear, so it doesn't matter what is going on while the music is playing. The only thing that may prevent it from getting flagged is if there is some other audio mixed in, like someone talking.

Is Pac-Man On the Atari 2600 one of the worst arcade-to-home conversions ever?
 

I have a video I'm making (I can't give any details at this time) that I'll be using some remixes of game songs in.  I have a question about this one though.
https://youtu.be/t8JpbPKC9lE?list=PL7LTBDGwCmsqDExTmiYvVTGN0VpIR3--h
This is basically an extended version of Keep The Groovin' from Streets Of Rage.  Some instruments have been slightly changed and sections have been added.  I'm about to contact 8-Beats and ask permission to use this remix, but would it be a wise choice to use this?  I'm afraid of Yuzo Koshiro or Sega claiming it.  This will be the biggest (and most important) video I've ever made, and I don't want any copyright claims on it.

Is Pac-Man On the Atari 2600 one of the worst arcade-to-home conversions ever?
 

WOW That is wicked! Can't wait to see it in action. Love kookie stuff like that. Amazing find my friend!

Video Game Magazines! I really dig mags from the mid 80's to mid-to-late 90's
I bought each of these separately from the same seller, who was kind enough to combine shipping, even though it didn't say anything about it in the description.  This really helped bring the cost down to the point where I paid less than $2 an issue.
 
Sega Visions & Gamepro
Sega Visions was Sega's version of Nintendo Power. 
Fun Fact: When they notified subscribers they were canceling the magazine, the remainder of their subscription was transferred over to Gamepro!

Electronic Gaming Monthly & Video Games
Fun Fact: EGM was my favorite mag growing up and inspired me to want to be a game reviewer one day, which I now am in a way on YouTube.

Game Informer
Yup, I liked GI until about the PS2 era

 
And my favorite, a rare, early issue of Game Informer!

Next is a box of almost 30 boxed Sega Genesis games. Some are missing manuals and they're mostly sport games, but I paid less than 2 bucks a game and there are some titles I'm interested in.

Get Ready! for my next pickup:
 

 
That's right. Another loose 32X game. This time it's Space Harrier. I've heard that this is a pretty good port so I'm glad to have finally found one at a decent price.
 

While it's certainly not the best beat em' up game on the Genesis, I feel it deserves more credit.  Mega ranked it as the worst Mega Drive game!  I'm guessing they hadn't seen Action 52 on Genesis or Shaq Fu.  I played Altered Beast for the first time yesterday, and thought it was pretty cool.  It wasn't perfect, and I especially hate how the drums get cut off for several seconds after punching an enemy (meaning you rarely hear the drums), but the game was solid and a good port of the arcade original.  What are your thoughts on Altered Beast?

Congratulations on the Intellivision II and demo cart!

Ok. This is one of the finds that made my week so great. 
I bought an Intellivision II with a handful of games. When I saw a pic of it on eBay, I wasn't going to buy it until something caught my eye.
Notice anything?
 

 
That's right! A rare, red demonstration cart!!!
 

 
It's basically an ad on a cart telling you why to buy the system and showing some gameplay from some of the games. They would use these in stores and it kinda acted like the later VHS tapes that had nothing but commercials on them and would start back at the beginning when done.
I will make a video showing it in action later.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322457459704?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=511431511646&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
Well, I took a little gamble and purchased one of these on Ebay.  The part that intrigued me was that it will play NES and GBA ROMS that you can install on the device.
 
It arrived today, and here's my impression so far:
It does indeed play NES and GBA ROM files just fine.  They are easy to load on the unit using a USB cable.  I've been using the NES emulation mostly, and it seems pretty spot on.  Sounds are good.  It mentions SMS compatibility too, but I haven't tried that. GBA games also work great.  The screen is very nice and bright.  It looks great. Sounds are good too. You can also use it as a media device.  Music and video files play fine. It has a camera.  Have not tried it. The case design is a blatant rip-off of the PSP (see my pic below).   It's very lightweight and feels a little cheap.  Very similar to the 2600 flashback portable. Mine may (or may not) be defective -- It's been charging for about an hour but won't turn on without it being plugged in.  I'll let it charge overnight and see if that's what it needs. Documentation?  Not a single word.  You're on your own figuring this thing out. Assuming the battery works, I think this thing is really cool.  My plan is to load up a ton of NES and GBA roms and take it with me on the go.  There are some GREAT games for those systems.
 
Picture below is the MP5 unit on top (in blue) and a real PSP on the bottom. 
 

So I decided to turn my Mt. Rushmore Series into a Mt. Trashmore Series too.
Here I show you my choices for the four worst pack-in video games of all time.
 

 
What are your four worst pack-in games?

Don't you just love it when you buy a game and find out later it won't play on your system?  Well, I picked up Pitfall! International Edition today wondering if it was from Europe, and sure enough, it was.  The game will only run on a PAL Atari, which I'm sure most people here in North America don't have.  It makes me wonder why this game was here considering Pitfall came out in the US and Canada in NTSC format.
 
So remember, Pitfall! International Edition is PAL.  How to spot this version is simple.  On the front of the label under "Pitfall!", instead of saying "Pitfall Harry's Jungle Adventure", it'll say "International Edition".

Welcome to Atari.io!

That's okay, I'm returning the one I have.  The person who sold me this copy has an NTSC Pitfall! as well.

Welcome to Atari.io!

If you have an ancient TV with a horizontal hold, you should be able to adjust it to play PAL games. My parents still had a TV like this when I started collecting in the 90s. I found a PAL game and brought it over there to test it out (I read about it on Usenet) and it worked.

On the flip side, a number of modern non-CRT TVs are able to handle a PAL signal well enough to play a game, too.  For example mine usually displays either a light flicker or a rolling line, but the entire picture doesn't roll like it normally would with older televisions.
 
That said, if you're looking for a copy you can play, I'd be willing to trade you an NTSC copy for your PAL copy.
 
Alternatively: welcome to the wonderful world of Atari label variant collecting! 

Welcome to Atari I/O, Bill!! This is a vibrant community with great people, I hope you really enjoy your time here! We love content creators here too! Retrogaming podcasts and YouTube channels keep the hobby rolling along and draw new people into classic games. Feel free to start your own thread in our Podcasts forum and post episodes of your show for everybody to check out, if you post podcast episodes consistently we'll pin your podcast thread to the top of the page: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/forum/47-podcasts/

I've hosted an Atari podcast for over a year and am ashamed it took until now to show up at Atari.io. This looks like a great resources for info and history.
 
Until next time (which won't be long),
 
Bill
 
http://ataribytes.libsyn.com/

Hi, everybody!
 
I've had a podcast for a while now, but am FINALLY posting something here. Atari Bytes is a weekly show reviewing 2600 games (and occasionally 7800 games). Really, though, the show is only partly a straight-up review show. The other big part of the show is answering burning questions like: What was Yar seeking revenge against? Why did they send Mario the plumber to take down an ape? What made that dude go Bezerk? If I don't know the answers, I make 'em up with my own story.
 
Please do check it out and let me know what you think!
 
http://ataribytes.libsyn.com/Show notes and episodes are here. You can also get the show just about everywhere podcasts are: Stitcher, iTunes (please leave a review!), Google Play, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, etc.
 
Like the show page on Facebook
 
Follow the show on Twitter @ataribytes
 
Thanks, everybody!
 
Bill

Starting on March 5th, I had an amazing week on eBay (actually more like 5 days).
Not only did I find some cool stuff at good prices, but I also sold enough to cover my purchases.
On this thread, I'm going to share some of my purchases as I open them up and test them.
 
First up, Shadow Squadron for the Sega 32x.
 

 
I got this for a great deal loose. I remember having a blast playing this at a friends house when it first came out. 
I recall that it had a great two player mode and was actually more fun than the 32x Star Wars game! 

I thought I'd share some pictures of my Atari 7800 Kiosk that I assembled during the earliest days of this website, in 2001. This is not an original kiosk from Atari as to my knowledge there was never an official Atari 7800 retail kiosk, aside from Atari's display at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show - so I decided to make my own. Unfortunately this kiosk no longer exists and these are likely the only pictures I have. I may attempt to build another one of these kiosks sometime in the future.
 
I made this kiosk mostly using the structure of a generic Toys R Us game kiosk from that time, along with some other components and custom parts. The Atari 7800 Kiosk is about 80% complete in these pictures. Custom "Atari 7800 ProSystem" signage, controller mounts, custom wiring and a larger Sony Trinitron TV were added a bit later on. Custom Atari artwork was made for the sides of the kiosk which you would not have been able to see in these pictures. Additional games would hang from the back pegboard panel on either side of the first 7800 box, and a more substantial set of games were displayed on the two shelves below. Atari 7800 systems and accessories were displayed on the bottom shelf, and Atari Lynx systems and games were displayed on the upper shelf. All items displayed were brand new.
 
I had considered mounting a flat screen monitor against the back panel where you see the first Atari 7800 box hanging, but I opted not to do this. While I wanted the kiosk to be really cool, I also wanted it to look and feel as if it could have plausibly been used in a retail space during the 7800's lifespan. Flatscreens were pretty new in 2001, and that wasn't really the feel I was going for.
 
These pictures popped up when I found some old images from the earliest days of this website (2000-2002) on an old laptop this week. There's some really cool stuff in there that I can’t wait to share with you over coming weeks. I'll be posting more soon in a new thread giving you a glimpse into life at Atari I/O / Atari7800.com back in the day. Be sure to follow our Facebook and Instagram as I'll be posting on there too! Enjoy 

If I saw these at a flea market, I'd laugh and then walk away. Even if they're collectible, I'd rather not have Custer's Revenge on my shelf.