CrossBow

I don't know... I actually really want this. But then I've also got like 3 other sets still in the box unopened because I just haven't any room to set them up and show them off. But I really feel like I'm going to kick myself in the butt if I don't try and get one of these.

I own flash devices for most of the consoles I play on, and it too has made me slow down and not purchase something just because I don't have it yet. I actually find that I still prefer to pop in the actual games in most cases but I tend to use my flash drives as a 'Try before I buy' setup. Especially for heavy hitters that require considerably more coin than common stuff does. As an example, I have a RHEA installed in my model 1 Saturn. Using it, made me go ahead and get actual copies of Policenauts, Grandia, Bulk Slash, and a few other Saturn games that while not crazy cheap (Even if most of them are JPN releases only), I was still willing to seek them out and purchase them. This way I own those games physically because I wanted them for the collection, but at the same time, I'm able to actually more easily play the games with fan translations on my RHEA using disc images for those games.

Well the specific kit I used and made work on my 7800 test unit was the same kit used for the SMS controller pause kit. It just uses the L + R combo to a logic gate which, in turn then sends the signal to the pause pin on the CPU. On the 7800 I did the exact same thing. Now, it does require some diodes to be installed on each of those left right controller lines so that pressing right or left by themselves doesn't feedback and actually do the impossible combo. I also tend to add another diode from the pause signal so make sure that is one way. This way, the L + R combo doesn't interferer with paddle controller reads or cause the system to think a paddle controller is connected. I found that out the hard way with my Harmony cart when I originally had it wired up to use Up + Down. So using the Left + Right combo worked well in the case of the 7800. But like I also stated, you can program simple combos from the controller to do similar functions. The one homebrew I know doing this I believe uses up + button 2 and that brings up a map screen in the game. During the map screen the game is also paused, but using the actual pause button also brings up the map screen in the same fashion. In fact, when the game was in early development, it only used the pause button and that was why I made a remote pause function on my controller with an extra button. I was using a modified NES controller so I had my pic of the Start/select buttons as my extra button for the impossible L+R combo in this case. Anyway, the programmer eventually found that you could trigger pause on 7800 games with controller combos so he did that and it made the 3rd button setup no longer needed.

I put one of the funnyplaying IPS screens in an old glacier GBA I had sitting around over a year ago and it really made me want to play GBA games again. I've also done similar for a member here and as far as I know, he has been pretty pleased with it. That all said, I also got confirmation that my GBA consolizer kit from Gamebox has shipped. I also purchased a semi beat up but working GBA for the project so it will be really interesting and cool to be able to play GBA, GB, and GBC games on the big screen in console like fashion.

Well, I do know that controller + button combos can be used to at least activate the Pause function. A recent homebrew does this for instance and doesn't require any hardware modification. Aside from that, I was able as a test to essentially wire up the same modification that is done on the SMS along with adding a button to the controller to give remove pause function. I replicated this on my test bed 7800 but never did anything beyond testing if it could be made to work. But something similar would likely be possible for most of the functions but require some sort of controller to be added to handle the different input combos to additional logic added to the 7800 to route it where it needed to go.

I've honestly had too many recent additions to list them all. But two of them recently I got in yesterday and I'm quite happy to show them off! As some of you might know, I like some chip tune music and own a few CDs releases etc. Well, some of the chip tune artists also release their music on actual cartridges to be played in the actual hardware. Most of the ones I own are for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive and that is what came in yesterday. Two new album on cartridge releases to check out and add to my small unique section of the Ivory Tower Collections. I present the 2 releases from MikeyEldey! Mikeyeldey95 is the latest release and as the name implies, the album is interactive and uses a windows95 like interface to navigate and interact with the cartridge. Very cool! Both cartridges feature some mini games and other fun surprises.

I mention this each time I hear someone complain about the price of modern games. Honestly... inflation has never really caught up in regards to the price of our games. I know for a fact that I paid $34.99 for my cart of Ms. Pac-man for the 2600 back in around '83 from the local TG&Y. I know this because I had to buy it with my own saved up allowance money at the time. The irony was that my parents ended up playing it more than I did back then LOL! I only opted for the standard releases because I just haven't the space. But I do agree that these look very cool! I'm really digging the Aquaventure limited look but again I have to let my scale balance out the want vs what I should really pay LOL!

ITC#84 was released this morning and focuses once again on the Intellivision II console. This time I go through the process I use for installing one of Kevin's a.k.a. 'The Crayon King' latest RGB board, known as the Orange Peel, into the Intellivision II console. As has been stated before, CK's newest board is really impressive providing excellent RGB output that is compatible with all current known scaling/line doubler devices in addition to great composite and s-video output as well should that be wanted. In this video I detail the steps I use to re-purpose the channel select switch to be the palette switch made possibly by the removal of the RF modulator. Additionally, the RF removed allows for a nice place to install the PCB mount 9 and 8-pin mini din jacks I have on hand allowing for a no cut RGB upgrade on the model 2 Intellivision. A printable PDF guide is linked in the video description to help bring some clarity to the install process in the model 2 Intellivision console. I've also attached it to this post. Thanks for watching and enjoy! INTV2_OP_RGB_Install_Guide.pdf

Pretty sure the spot is known enough or can be figured out pretty easily. So yeah, honestly it really ruins any hsc for this game. I use the tactic to park and rack up a few extra men before continuing on. But essentially if time is of a concern and you can pay attention enough to make sure an odd soldier does happen to somehow creep up behind you or just below you, you can essentially play this game indefinitely. Like I said, I rack up over 3mill just standing there one day and shut it off because by that point I had cleared through the game of all the 2 sets of levels a few times and decided I'd played enough!

To be fair, if you aren't playing twitch manic type games, then the lag might not be an issue for you and could easily be adjusted and compensated to. But I can't image being very good at Star Raiders, or the Last Starfighter or most of the arcade conversions with any substantial amount of lag. I'm only speculating here, but even on my PS4, or my Switch, I've noticed some inherent lag exists while playing. The difference is that the games made for those systems take it into account and so allow for more leeway and to allow for you to adjust to it.

Gotcha...

Are there those that sell the various output methods as ready made cables then? Seems like the RGB or VGA color low/med resolution options would work well for my setup since my Extron has a dedicated VGA input on it. Though it is for PC VGA signals so not sure how it would handle the 15khz but it might handle it just fine honestly. And I'm pretty confident I could get the RGB option to work either directly to my Extron through BNC or SCART to my switcher.

I have not, but all of the cheaper made s-vid/composite to HDMI converters always had some amount of lag in them to begin with. Even the higher priced $55 dollar one I purchased nearly a decade ago had some lag. Funny thing is that I didn't really notice it until I moved everything over the Extron+OSSC setup I use now. And especially noticed when connected back up to a CRT for any quick game testing. My point is that wireless anything is going to have some lag anyway with the translation between transmitter/receiver and then add on the video conversion and it would likely be noticeable at that point.

There are two 7805s in the thing that drop the voltage down to 5v the system actually uses. So if you could find something that only provided +5 with lots of current, then you could just wire it directly in front of the two outputs from the VRs. On the controllers themselves, I don't believe the stock controllers use the +5 or even have a wire in them for it. I know the Trak-Ball does and I believe my Wico keypad did, but when the cable broke on that, I replaced it with a standard 5200 controller cable and it worked fine without the +5. Even with an actual Wico 5200 controllers plugged into it is still works without issue so that +5 line wasn't used very often near as I can tell. But now I have to ask... Why?

You didn't mention that one of the mirrors was already hit with a micro meteorite and they have to adjust to compensate for that now too.

I have an older composite output cable I can use with my 130xe? Are they pinned the same? Even then I actually use an s-video and audio only cable on it now that I had made by Hercules Cables. Does the ST line provide s-video output on them through the monitor port? I don't see how RGB, composite, and s-video would all fit if they are using the same din connector the older 8-bit computers used?

Okay so on the 1040ST then... it only has just the monitor output right? I did confirm with the current owner that it is not the STF version so there isn't an RF modulator on it. Don't think it is the E version either so no enhanced audio. So basically, I would need the monitor in order to use the thing it seems like?

I have played the unreleased SR II through my UnoCart on my 130xe and it is quite fun but it is more difficult due to the ship movements still not being finalized so they move around strangely and your shots don't register hitting them very well. As for TLSF... oh... I have that game mastered!!! I did a game play video sometime back on my 5200 where I talk about the strategy I use when playing it. But here are a few key things: The main thing is that it seems the Kodan fleets have a harder time of getting through the frontier if you take out all of the fighters in the fleet squadron first. Meaning... go to a dot that represents one of the Kodan squadrons... take down the fighters and when the main destroyer ships appear...take out the first 2 and leave the 3rd and last one alone. Then warp to another group and repeat. Once you have the initial Kodan groups all reduced to a single destroyer, they don't seem able to get through the frontier anymore. As a result, you power up from the sun as needed and then warp to the Kodan system and start taking out their bases on their planets. Do NOT worry about the fighters that attack when you are taking out their cities because they don't do that much damage and even if they take out your main cannon or your energy does get low, you can repair/power up at their sun just like yours. So you do that really quick and come back. Once you have all of the Kodan cities on each of their three planets destroyed, they can't build anymore squadrons to come after you. So all that is left is all there will be of the enemy at that point. Now you can go back and engage the remaining groups of Kodan groups and win the game. Pretty simple really once you know all of this. Another thing is that as soon as you get notification about the Frontier being under attack, immediately warp from combat or wherever you are and get to the spot that is under attack. The quicker you do this, the less likely they are to ever get any enemy groups into the Rylos system. So my basic gameplay session goes like this... You start off on Rylos already with enemy fighters already in range. Start taking them down but ignore them when you see Frontier under Attack messages. Always... protect the frontier! Then go back and take out remaining fighters. If you are really quick about this beginning process, only Rylos will initially be under attack and you can prevent anything from happening to the other two planets. After Rylos is protected and you have the initial batch of enemy groups down to a single destroyer, then go after the Kodan system and take out their bases. Might have to warp back to the Rylos system once or twice in this process to protect against more Frontier attacks, but again if you reduce most of the groups to a single destroyer, this isn't much of an issue later. If you are lucky... or unlucky depending on your view. One of the squads might actually contain the Kodan command ship. This is a right bear to take down as it seems to require a couple of direct shots to the center of it and that can be tricky. Most of the time it seems to escape from me. That's bad since you aren't likely to encounter it again although it can happen sometimes. I even had a game once where I encountered 2 Kodan Command ships and was able to take them both out. That was a glorious game. Anyway, The Last Starfighter game on the 5200 is probably my favorite game to play on the console. And I only advise use of the original 5200 controllers to play it. Here is the video to my game play session where I go through an entire game of TLSF and talk about these strategies and a few more if you're curious.

No idea. Another local collector that also used to deal in arcade cabs is now thinning out a good chunk of his stuff. He feels he will have better success if the consoles are upgraded for easier play on modern displays so he is wanting me to provide the parts to do so on about 3 consoles. In return I would get a parts console, 2 CIB games I need for the collection of which, one of them is not cheap usually to get plus the ST setup. He was also offering an Adam setup but I told him to keep that boat anchor as I KNOW I don't have room for that! If the ST is about the same size as the 130xe, I'm sure I can find a place to store it and then pull it out when I want to use it. But composite output is rough. I couldn't stand the composite output on my 130xe or most of my other consoles so if there isn't an easy to do RGB from it with my current setup or something, then I'm not sure. Most of the games that I'd likely have been interested in for it, I own as Jaguar ports on cartridge LOL!

Speaking of the ST line. I've a chance to do some console work for a buddy and in exchange I believe a 1040ST is in the mix along with possibly an Atari monitor to go with. But I don't have room for anymore retro consoles, much less computers! I have the 130xe but that I can easily take off the shelf and connect via S-video to my AV setup to play some games. No space for a dedicated complete setup so... I would have really want it or be convinced I really need one to bite?

Granted I've not played the 360 version but I did just look up some gameplay video of it on youtube. The beginning story already screws up things by making the game title 'Star Raiders' refer to the group of elite pilots that you are playing as. Far as I remember...it was called Star Raiders because the Zylons were..uh... raiding star systems of their resources and you were trying to take them out before they could succeed? So already they have hosed up the title's meaning for me... I won't watch anymore and wait for your review take on it.

I didn't know there was a Star Raiders on the 360? Definitely let us know how it is..etc.

I'm in the minority on this one, but I prefer Commando to Ikari Warriors because I've never even been able to get past the first stage of Ikari! The splash damage area from enemy grenades is just insane and I find use of the tank to be useless because it just doesn't last long for me. That said... Commando does have a flaw in one part of the game play that I think I've mentioned a few times before. There is one spot on one of the later levels where you can essentially just park in place with the machine gun and keep racking up lots of solder kills without much risk to yourself. I scored over 3million on it one day and just shut it off out of boredom because of this. So... any high score contests using Commando for the 7800 need to be reconsidered due to this one game play section alone.

I've beaten Knight Guy more than a few times hehe. I think my best time I had left was about 35:2x back when I was really beta testing it quite a bit. I did complete it once last week with just over 35min left. Also, your colors are wrong on that 7800 and need adjustment or your TV does. The border on that screen should be more blue then green. Actually it is blue on a cold system and then goes bluish teal once warmed up but never full on green like that.

I state it is semi permanent because it isn't that simple to remove the mount once it is in place. But, no components have to be removed as I designed it to fit with the RF modulator left in place. That is part of the reason for the output side of the UAV having to stay on the left side of the mount board. To turn it around, meant that the UAV would end up being in the way of the audio tuning coil and that would have to be removed or resoldered in a different fashion. Or the UAV would end up hanging over the 74x logic ICs and make it difficult to replace those should it be needed in the future etc. I've managed to remove the mount but it took using my desoldering gun and having to carefully use a screw driver to pry the pins away form the resistor legs with the iron on them to loosen them up. So that is why I state it is semi permanent. But leaving it in place doesn't effect the RF output and vice versa. Sounds like you did the simple composite only video upgrade on yours and that requires removing the RF and some other components because leaving them would cause interference in the composite output. The simple comp mod is just an amplifier that is boosting the original composite video that went into the RF modulator. So it is very susceptible to interference as a result. The UAV is a replacement video encoder circuit so it takes in the separate video signals needed and creates its own composite and s-video output. That is why it doesn't require having to remove anything and being able to leave the 7800 in stock condition. It is also why the UAV provides a better quality composite and really good quality s-video output as a result. Now, the mount PCB does increase parts costs of course and they weren't cheap for me to have made up. Because I still end up having to hand solder everything together on them. So... in my installs it adds another $10 to the cost of parts, but due to time savings for actual installation, I dropped the labor costs $10 to compensate. Not sure what TBA will charge for them if they decide to go forward with having more made and using them. But I think with all the confusion that exists with different methods to install the UAV depending on the Atari system you want to install it into, that an agreed standard method would make it way easier for everyone. So it would mean that the 7800 version of the kit would likely cost more than just installing a basic board, but the fact that additional work isn't needed for audio and it corrects from some of the chroma shifting a bit, plus allowing an easier to install method for everything really makes up for it I feel. If you order a basic UAV (What I was doing prior to this), I still had to order separate 10µf caps and sets of 6.8k and 18k resistors for the audio mixing that had to be hand soldered together. The chroma fix was another PCB with a 100nf cap and 4050 IC chip on it that was assembled and soldered into the chroma line as well. So when you think about it, I wasn't really saving any money or time with the basic kit installs I'd been doing for the past several years. I'd gladly pay an extra $10 to have the extra stuff included and already done in a way that I don't have to do any additional wiring other than to my outputs. And that is what the UAV mount allows for. BTW here are some additional pics of the latest one I did for a client. They had a previous... 'HDMI' install done and that had to all be ripped out. But as a result the RF modulator was already removed from the previous install. The UAV doesn't require having to put those components back, other than the C10 cap that the simple comp mod has you remove that affects the pokey audio. So that was the only component replaced. This is the client's main board setup with the UAV soldered into place and using my test wire harnesses for burn in testing. Composite output on the small PVM and S-video on the larger LCD. Here is a closeup view of the UAV installed during testing... Here is the complete UAV and new BIOS install that the client also requested to have done. And here are two sample pics of the s-video output directly from the flat panel LCD. This is an older multi input computer monitor so it has s-video, component, composite, DVI, and VGA inputs. I use a DVI to HDMI converter for Retrotink2x SCART usage when doing RGB installs. But you get a good look at the quality of the s-video output from a UAV. In many cases, I'd be happy enough with this and while an RGB output for the 7800 is eventually coming, I'm good with waiting while the s-video looks this good.