CrossBow

Very cool! I've not played DD for the 7800 in any great length for many many years. I likely burned myself out on it back in the day playing it all the time LOL! I have Midnight Mutants but didn't have it originally back in the day so I'm not very good at it at all and die quickly anytime I've tried to play it.

Double Dragon for me...the secret was both the reverse jump kick and... the elbow punch. And as I've stated before, what you need to do is move slowly across the screens so that you can try and keep it to only 2 enemies at a time. Then, if you quickly move your character up/down on the opposite side of where the enemy is, you will find that they start to lock in coming towards you on one horizontal plane. As a result you sneak up below as they walk towards you or from above and elbow punch them. That is the best way to deal with Abobo's if you don't have a weapon in hand.

I think only F18 has missions that technically end. I actually played it a bunch as a kid. I also thought F-14 was really good but sadly my cartridge of the game only lasted a week before it just refused to work anymore. I ended up exchanging it for F-18 LOL! But I think F-14 just repeats over and over although you do take off, take down a set number of bogeys and then land. As for Choplifter it does end. Either when you lose all of your lives or live long enough to save as many POWs as you can. Although to really consider it beaten, you need to finish the game with all 64 POWs rescued. I managed to do it maybe 2 or 3 times back in the day, but no way I could remember my method of doing it today.

You forgot F18? Technically the missions are selected individually but there are conditions in the manual for ACE level completion for those missions.

Understood. However, given how long it might actually take to accomplish this, some of those 'brews might end up getting physically released before you are able to complete the initial list. I know of at least 1 7800 'brew release scheduled for October during PRGE as an example that has a definite ending to the game.

There are a few other home brews that could be added but might not yet exist in physical cartridge form and are only ROM files. One that comes to mind is another of VHZC's games... Slide boy. That has an ending as well since I've beta tested it quite a bit although I still prefer the control overall in his 2600 version of the game. I'm sure there area some others that escape me, but wasn't sure if you are limiting yourself to just physical released games or not?

Yes, you can short out the momentary switch, but it will still act the same as it did before because it is the 4013 IC chip that is toggling the on/off state to the rest of the circuit. But what you could do is wire up some sort of secondary switch after that point that would kill power to the rest of the system and have it be remotely activated. I know such devices exist as I've heard of people wiring up non smart appliances so they can still operate them using a phone app to turn them on/off etc. through the use of a blue tooth receiver and relay. But... I think I'm good with just keeping the 5200 nearby and power cycling it like normal. Okay...wait now that I'm thinking about this more. You are wanting to just short the contacts on the power switch so it acts as if it is always in the down pressed state then? Yes, I suppose this is possible but not sure what that would do long term with the constant voltage going to the signal pin on the 4013 like that? But in theory...yes. And then after that point you would wire up a standard spst on/off switch to either complete the +5 or disconnect it.

So torn on these comparisons. In many scenes the grain and artifacts are horrible in the 4k disc release, and much improved in the Par+ 4k. But then some of the redone scenes look really good and others still do NOT look right. Again, as I stated earlier, the original shots outside the Enterprise as they go to V'ger still look better as the light from the center point diffuses much more naturally than it does in the redone CGI shots. The actors also look very pasted into the shots on those newer scenes and it is distratcting. I'm most surprised by the fact that they redid most of the exterior V'ger scenes, and then didn't seem to redo the shots that really needed it most. As an example, the shots of the Klingon cruisers outside the V'ger cloud on both versions still show the noticed cutout black outline from the original compositing techniques they used back then. I would have thought they would redo those scenes completely as to not make it look so much more obvious. Same with most of the shots of the Enterprise exterior shots. You can see the definitely outline from the cutout compositing work that was done and in many instances on the newer 4k Para+ release, those look even more glaring than before. I do agree that in most of the shots, the detail and grain removal without too much removal is far superior in the newer 4k Para+ release. But the inconsistent updates overall just seem quite odd to me. Perhaps seeing it all in motion it becomes much less obvious but based on the stills provided in these comparison videos, I'm going to have to stick with my older blu-ray release for now. Do they plan to release the newer 4k cut physically at some point?

I still prefer the coloring and overall scene sets from the 79 release. Especially when they exit the Enterprise to see V'ger. The light illumination from the center looks more natural than it does on the 2022 release where it is all very CGI heavy and noticeably so.

Thanks! Not my fastest time though. When i was really testing it out, I was routinely finishing with over 35min left. I've lost some of my timing since then LOL! The game used to be MUCH easier before Vlad added in his patented "Anti CB Traps" on many of the screens. An example is the first room that has the little red and blue orb things that move left and right with the ladder on the left of the screen? There is a big wall of spike to the right of the ladder. Originally that wall of spikes didn't exist and I found out that as soon as you entered the room, you could just jump off that ledge and clear both of those orbs easily. So...yeah stuff like that, that he saw me doing in my private play testing videos to him, is what made quite a few of the screen designs become the way they are. As you saw though, he still left some of the stuff I do be possible to still get through some of the tricky stuff easier on the back tracking.

@Funkmaster V I just released a full 100% secrets reveal play through last night on my YT channel. The one secret you are missing is on the very first screen you start from. But you have to first go to other screens and then come back before you can get it. It is how you acquire the 8 lives total count.

Well I already have the original UAV install guide for the 7800 I did several years back. The only difference here is that there aren't any wires to attach the UAV up itself. Just the wiring that still needs to be done to run to your AV jacks on the console where ever a person happens to install them etc. I would honestly like to keep this board set for myself as a mark of my installs so to speak. But I haven't the resources to make these on a large enough scale I don't think and Brewing Academy actually own a pick n place machine for making their stuff. So they can have bare PCBs made and populate and make them in a fraction of the time it takes me. Really as long as everyone knows where and whom designed them, I think that is all that really matters.

What is interesting about you saying that, is The Brewing Academy actually thinks this will make the process so much easier and less daunting for budding DIY types they fear it will take away business from me if I make these publicly available and have them as part of a kit already? My intention with the work I do was never to make it a full time job as I have a full time job already. My intentions on the console work has always been to help people get their systems working again and perhaps offer a means to make it easier for these classic and vintage consoles to be enjoyed on both CRTs and modern displays. TBA really seems interested in being able to make and provide these. So we shall see if I'm able to work out something with them. If nothing, else the next 9 atari 7800s that should come in for UAV upgrades, will at least have this initial idea installed into them.

I've spoken about this in a blog previously and even updated the blog to show the actual PCB and sample of it installed. While I did make a very tiny error in my trace layout design, it isn't huge and is something that can be fixed in situ when I'm putting these mount boards together. So..what is this all about? For sometime now I've been wondering about different ways to install the UAV into 7800 systems that might make it easier and look more professional as a result. Several ideas came to my mind and I also knew of at least one other person working on something similar. But as they hadn't made any progress towards it and eventually got out of the modding business, I decided a few months ago to look into this again. The UAV is an amazing upgrade board. But as it was mainly designed around the Atari 8-bit computer line originally, the UAV design and installation are simpler on the 8-bit computers and 5200 as a result. But for several 2600 system revisions and the 7800 installs, wiring and quite a bit of it is needed to have a working UAV. But in the case of the 7800, most of those needed wire connections are actually all along a straight line in one portion of the 7800 main board. So it seemed that something should be possible to come up with an easier way to install the UAV. Additionally, if I'm to design something, then perhaps it could also be designed so that some other ideas could be added for consistency and to correct for some deficiencies in the UAV in regards to 7800 use. That leads us finally to these: Above is a pair of ready made mount boards. The board is designed so that it sits above the resistor ladder section and provides fairly easy to solder board interconnect pins that solder to the resistor legs directly. In addition, the design also has the audio inputs from R5 and R6 for the Pokey and TIA to be attached to as well. From there the UAV then sits onto the pins pointing up and align with the vias on the UAV. Initial testing is possible by appling light pressure onto the UAV to ensure a decent connection with the pins so that you know the UAV and your soldering on the mount board is good. Then, you solder the UAV to the pins for a semi permanent install. As I didn't see a need for a large empty board to mount the UAV onto, I also added the chroma fix circuit along with the added resistors and capacitor for proper audio mixing and a convenient solder pad for the audio output wire to attach to. So in essence, you just solder your wiring to the output vias on the UAV for whatever you plan to use either composite or s-video or both, and after soldering the UAV into place, you run a wire from the audio output pad to your RCA jacks or whatever you decide to use for audio output jacks. Here is the first one of these I assembled where I used single pin sockets so that the UAV could be taken on/off the mount board easily. This was only for testing and actual install would have the UAV soldered securely in place. This also means that the UAV won't stand quite as tall off the mount board as you see in the picture below because it would only be about half the height off the mount board soldered directly. Here you can see where the pcb interconnect pins are soldered to the resistor legs on the board. Here is the 2 pins that get soldered down for the audio signals for Pokey(External audio line) and the TIA. Here is the test board with the UAV installed on top. Again the actual installs and use of this board will have the UAV sitting half as tall from the mount PCB. I also designed vias for the +5 and GND that line up with the +5 and GND from the RF modulator interface board. This was so I could use right angle headers to solder on top of the original pins off the RF modulator and then go into the mount PCB. But this isn't as simple to do as it might seem so those vias doesn't even have to be used. Instead power and ground wires could be soldered to those vias more easily or even to the large +5 and GND pads on the UAV itself to power everything. I've already started talking with Marlin over at the Brewing Academy about making these available as either separate boards or as part of a larger all in one complete 7800 kit. Nothing set in stone with them yet but I do think this will make DIY types more apt to try and install UAVs into their own 7800s without having to worry about everything being in the right place or worry about wiring coming loose from the resistors etc. Only wiring really needed here is from the output side to your AV jacks. Any thoughts on this? Anything that seems confusing? Or perhaps it is overkill?

Well it seems to work. I did make one very tiny mistake in my trace layout where I forgot one of the traces for the chroma fix circuit. But it can easily be fixed in situ with just a tiny bit of solder. But this is what it looks like. A 7800 mount PCB that incorporates the chroma fix and audio mixing that I normally add as separate components to a 7800 install. Only here it is all together and designed so that the PCB and header connectors get soldered to the mount board first and then solder the mount board to the various resistors that the video and audio are tapped from. Additional header pins would also be installed on the top side wherein the UAV would sit onto those pins and then get soldered down permanently to the mount pcb. Once I get a better system in place for getting it all together and pre do the soldering for the SMD components, this should shave quite a bit of time labor wise off ITC installs with a more professional look in the process. While it might save some labor time, it isn't going to reduce the cost I charge to do this work since I have added extra parts into the mix with professional made PCBs now. Still I'm hopeful that this will bring that little bit of extra to ITC installs of the 7800 UAV. Here is a short video of it in action...

Was this captured from your actual Ti or emulation? If from an actual Ti what AV upgrade do you have in place because that looks amazing?!

It will be a challenge for me as well. I've soldered some fine pitch stuff before, but nothing like this as I believe they are only like .3mm width or something to that effect? My plan, will be to lightly tin one of the legs in the corner. Line up the chip and tap my iron onto it to anchor that point down. If it bridges, it isn't that big a deal because the next step would be to apply liquid flux liberally to the pins and then essentially drag solder across the pins with the solder that is beaded onto the iron. From there, it would just be more flux applied and then some swipes with the iron from the chip outward across a few pins at a time. I did something similar when I did my DCDigital install on my Dreamcast and have done similar on UAV boards that arrived not quite working properly in the past.

PCBs are designed, created, and already shipped headed my way as are a few components for me to populate the boards. I will go into more details once I have my PCBs and have been able to test and check out if my idea works the way I've planned or not. In the meantime, here is a pic of the PCB. If you are familiar with the UAV layout and install process needed for the 7800, then this should be obvious on what it is. While what you see here is rather large, in reality it is only about the size of the UAV board so roughly 24mm tall and about 33mm wide. Pretty small.

Another thought to having the collectors or limited editions offered through LRG is that is adds a bit more legitimacy to the project since. While LRG can take a LONG time to delivery on product, they always do deliver eventually. Actually SLG might be worse on the delay times for project releases but yeah.

Lots of questions on this one floating around out there. The price for one being the most discussed aspect. I'm assuming LRG is only going to sell the collectors editions at the price they have listed. But it also calls to question about when the release of the standard edition and other pre-orders is going to happen? It seems odd for LRG to suddenly be offering and doing a run on these when Atari-XP hasn't even released their initial batch of the games from pre-orders last year?

Not that long ago, one of my clients sent me their H6 to me for a full refurb. When it arrived, I noticed a few things... off about it. The case shell was correct and the top shell lettering on the switches was correct. But the actual front bezel itself didn't seem to fit right. There was a bulge from it along the bottom near the cartridge port area. When I opened it up, I found out it was in fact a light sixer internally that had been case swapped. And it seems the front bezel doesn't quite fit right and butts up against the cartridge port metal housing causing the deformation I was seeing. There was also quite a bit of evidence of prior work inside the console with some of the caps obviously being newer and some other stuff. As a result, the client ended up.... buying another H6 to send to me to refurb again and then handed off their other 'h6' in disguise to someone else. As the parts are interchangeable, it can be hard to know for sure even if the case design shell matches the H6. In this case, whoever the seller on ebay was, they put together parts into a H6 shell and sold it off as an original H6. My client had purchased the console a few years ago, so it wasn't like they could go back and report it that far after the fact.

It is a light sixer. I can tell by the thickness (or lack thereof in this case) of the sides. Heavies are very obvious as the thickness of the sides is nearly a half inch.

@TrekMD I sent the email for the second Zark Stars game, but I really cannot justify that pricing. Especially with the issues I have with the first game not even working on 7800 consoles. To be fair, I've borrowed other copies of the first game that did work on 7800 systems including my own, but yeah... I just can't. They quoted me a price of well over $100 USD shipped for it this time around and I just can't swing that this go around.

April has been a really good pickups month for me. I was able to get several items that have been high on my list to get for several years now. And while this month isn't over, I don't have anything else on the way or that I'm aware of to add. So... here we go! April was both a Sega Saturn and old table top games month mainly. It all started at the beginning of the month when I purchased and installed a replacement BIOS for my model 1 US Saturn. It was something I'd been meaning to do for a number of years and I finally got around to it. I installed a region free BIOS and figured I would have it made with what I consider to be the best startup graphic for the Saturn systems that were released. Here is a direct capture of how the ITC Saturn now boots up: And then I was busy using my Buyee account to get some stuff out of Yahoo auctions Japan. I picked up a Saturn game I've been wanting for a long time that usually is crazy expensive on ebay but I only paid about half the cost for it from Japan directly. That game is Bulk Slash. Really fun 3rd person shooter type game with full 360 degree movement and pretty detailed graphics for the Saturn. In addition, I've been trying to get away from having to use my Action Replace cart as it is getting more finicky to use. As such, I also picked up a 4MB RAM expansion cart for those games that need it, and an official Saturn save cartridge for storing save games onto. I then received shipping notice for a new controller I ordered from Castlemania Games a few months back. It is a nice controller that can be used on either the Saturn or the Genesis and it is called the BrawlerGEN: Then to shift gears a bit, I also got shipping notification a week ago from Limited Run games that my copy of Axiom Verge 2 was on the way for the PS4. I've not opened it or played it yet but I really liked the first game. Although I wasn't able to complete the first game as I got seriously lost at what I believe to be just over the halfway point in the game and go super frustrated trying to figure out where the heck to go. That now takes us to two old table top games from the 80s that I had been wanting for at least a decade now since I first found out about them. The first one is Astro Thunder and it is a pretty big and fairly complex game of these types for back in the day. First pic is of the machine with the flash on to show detail and the second pic is without flash so you can see the game play screen. The last item for this month is another table top game that was NOT released stateside and in fact I believe was exclusive to Japan only. It is made by TOMY and uses the same case shell design as their TRON and Caveman games. The game is called Lupin and while the box art for it doesn't look it, I believe this is based on the Lupin III character from the mangas and TV shows. This was another Yahoo auction Japan purchase using my Buyee account. This game also just arrived today after a 10 day wait in customs in Chicago. Here is what it looked like when I got it. Decent shape, but very dirty. Notice there is some Kanji written across the top of the shell. No idea what it said as I was unable to get google to translate it. A little Dawn dishsoap and some warm water and I've got it looking as good as I think I can. I did have to use a light scouring pad and my De-solv-it to get that Kanji off the top of the case but all in all. Lupin cleaned up pretty well... And here is what the game play looks like for Lupin in all of its VFD colorful glory! It is very fun game to play with 3 separate game stages you go through. And those are my recent pickups! Quite excited to have these items as again they have been high on my collection want list for many years.

I previously attended the 2018 and 2019 events. We are staying at the new Hotel next door so if we find we need to go much further than a few miles, then we uber as needed. At least, that is what we did in previous years. Will only be there for the Friday - Sunday time frame so no extra to look or check out much of Portland.