CrossBow

Don't have to open the cartridge. The inverter chip is usually visible just behind the contact fingers and is outside the enclosed case shell section. Or at least it is visible on the few I own that are this way. My copy of F-18 uses an EPROM inside it for instance and the inverter is easily seen behind the cartridge contact pins.

That is why I was asking him to take a pic of the inside of the cart. Several of the later Activision and Absolute carts actually have eproms in them instead of masked roms. Over time, those carts can develop issues since eproms aren't designed to hold their data for as long as masked roms can. My guess is that some of the bits in the chip are starting to flip and essentially give you bit rot causing these issues. If you see a small IC chip horizontally installed just above the cartridge pins, that is very likely an inverter installed because the actual game is using an eprom instead of a masked rom. It wouldn't surprise me if Froggo carts also have eproms in them vs masked roms. It was cheaper back then to use eproms for smaller runs of games vs design and tooling for masked roms as I understand it. That is why later made games for the 7800 and I'm sure other systems went the eprom route in the later 80s.

It is a good game for sure but I own the PC-Engine version of the game when I bought my JPN TurboDUO back during the 2010 CGE in Vegas. However, I've never been that great at shooters. In fact, the most recently one I've played and really enjoyed that I could get far in, has been Gradius Extra on physical cart for my Genesis. But that is because of the options you can play with that essentially give you unlimited continues and don't remove all of your powerups when you get killed.

Can you take a picture of the cartridge for me showing the inside of it as you look down into from the cartridge pins? I'm curious on something...

I paid $250 for my Magic Knight Rayearth for the Saturn. Disc in excellent condition, case also in good condition with the sticker sheet it came with fully intact etc. First time my wife thought I was a little crazy. But I bought it about 4 or 5 years ago at that price and it is still the most I've paid for any single used game in my collection. Looking at how much that game goes for now, I feel I made the right call to buy it when I did. And really that is the takeaway from all of this. If you are wanting to collect the games to keep and play, then you are better off buying what you can and want now vs tomorrow. I still kick myself in the butt for not being willing to spend $100 - 200 for Snatcher for the Sega CD 15 - 20 years ago. Now I'm not likely to ever own an original of that game at this point given what it goes for.

Hmm.. I've thought about this many times and I still can't quite classify where I fit in with the collecting part of the hobby. When I got back into this just over 20 years ago now, It was first about getting all the stuff I wanted to play back in the day but couldn't afford as a child but could as an adult. As a result I was kinda smart in that I started with the heavier hitters first on some systems. But, I was only actively collecting for those systems that I had experience with when I was younger. So it started off being the Atari 2600, 7800, Genesis, SNES, and NES. But I was never wanting a complete collections. Just the games that I knew I would enjoy or had fond memories of playing. As a result of this mentality I still do NOT have a complete collection for any one system I have. Although my 7800 and 5200 are the closest to meeting such a goal. Today, I do not really actively go on the hunt to collect these days and stick with what I already have or purchase home brews that I enjoy playing. So I'm still never likely to attain a complete collection for any one system. And honestly with the flash cartridges that I do own, I find myself even less likely to keep collecting going forward. In fact, most of my collection these days is that of the shelf collector variety with nice stuff setup in groups together or on display in some way. While I might still occasionally open up the cases to grab one of the games to pop in and play, it is usually because there is a need for the physical game to be used for testing for instance. I've thought recently to start minimizing it down to just a few systems to actually keep and 'pass' on to another in the future but neither of my sons really have any interest at all in my old games nor do they seem to even care much for going back to play the games they played when they were younger. This is ONLY a theory of mine, but I think what is different now than 20 years ago is how much more mature emulation and emulation/simulation devices have come. There wasn't a decent 7800 emulator 20 years ago. There were good NES emulators but even SNES emulation had some issues. N64 emulation wasn't yet a think and even Sega Genesis emulation also had issues much less the ability to do SegaCD and 32x back then. So there was more of a need for many of us to have the actual hardware and games in hand because it was the only real way to play them properly without issues. But 20 years later and that landscape is very different. There are now multiple ways to play these older games through emulation that are so spot on that over 90% of the general gamer isn't likely to notice or have an issue playing games that way. So I can easily see why the appeal for the classic hardware and games might not be as interesting as it once was. Still, I like being surrounded by these old games and I smile that my child hood dream to have all the games is being met in my eyes.

That was kinda amazing and I never cared for New Kids back then but the video was quite well done.

To take good pics off a CRT, you need to use a longer exposure and NO FLASH. My Nikon has a night setting I can use that does a pretty good job with CRTs but I don't use that mode often since I've largely taken to just using my phone to take most still pics these days.

I still miss the original Gillette Sensor. It was the first razor I bought for myself just before going into the military and it was the best razor and blades I ever have used to this day. I have a Fusion now as well but it doesn't matter how many blades they keep adding, the Sensor was the best a man could get and it sucks they stopped making them and blades for them. I still own a sensor razor and still use it on occasion, but I've not found any blades for it that aren't stupid expensive either.

I remember really liking Tomcat for the brief week or 2 that is actually worked for me. I thought the graphics were pretty impressive at the time and making sure to follow the needed steps for proper landing etc. was very Space Shuttle like as well. Sadly when it up and stopped working, I took it back and exchanged it for F-18. I honestly wasn't that disappointed because I had a lot of fun with F-18 although calling it a flight sim is really stretching it since it doesn't really seem to have or follow any actual flight mechanics when playing it.

Should the VCS be considered? I mean yes... it is a console and yes it was released by Atari, but it isn't the same Atari.

Was that a $750 price tag on that CT?! That is.... I don't have words. Really makes the one I have in my collection that cost me about $30 back in the early '00s that much more of a value!

Either way, Bentley won't be getting played much around my collection and not anytime soon as I'm pretty deep into Horizon Forbidden West as my current gaming addiction LOL! But to get back on top, I think my favorite 'brew of Bob's is actually Astroblaster and I play that one pretty often because he really did a good job of getting it near arcade quality on that release!

I played and owned a few Microprose titles on my 286 back in the day. I think the first game I played from them on my buddy's IBM model 25 or 30 was Airborne Ranger. He never seem to really get into it so I borrowed it from him and had a blast with that game. I still have it loaded up to play in Dosbox but simply don't have the controls remembers anymore nor the overlay that used to come with these back in the day to know what does what. Other Microprose games I played and got really good at was Red Storm Rising and F-19 Stealth Figher (It would later be released as F-117A but essentially the exact same game). I own both of those games complete in box. The only submarine games I got into and was really able to understand how to play was the aforementioned Red Storm Rising and Wolfpack by Nova logic. I've heard of Silent Service but I didn't know anyone that owned it much less played it myself. I did play Lightspeed for a bit but it had a different name back then. Hyperspeed I think it was called? Didn't get far with that one. Pirates! was another Microprose classic, but I only found about that game much much later on when I first played the Genesis version in the early 2000s and discovered Pirates! and Pirates! -Gold for PCs had come out prior.

I just couldn't get any timing down for the first level boss and pretty much lose all my lives to her. Couldn't figure out the pattern if there was one. And after that the levels were much more difficult for me at least. Then again, I never really played adventure island as a kid. I guess maybe I just wasn't really able to get into that much to want to keep at it?

This... and Moon Patrol

For me it might just be Bentley's Crystal Quest. I've only managed to get past the first boss maybe twice ever?! It is more a game of frustration for me than anything so I tend to move onto something else honestly. Scrapyard Dog is another that I've never been able to get far in. Not even sure I've ever beaten the first level come to think of it? Ikari Warriors is difficult for me, but I feel that I just need to spend more time with that one but for some reason, it doesn't hold me interest as long as say Commando does which, I feel is the better game between the two.

I've not stated they are harder to get a hold of, but I certainly do NOT see them in the wild either. I can go into any of the half dozen shops in my hometown that also deal in used games and systems and pick up a use in good shape SNES controller for about $10. However, getting a jaguar controller requires me to hit the 'bay for such a purchase if I need one quickly.

Well, I'm not sure if the computer 8-bit line counts but I would think the XEGs would count as a console since it was marketed as a games console that also happened to have a keyboard that attached to it. Hence why it came with the light gun and the two games upon release. Having said that, I own all the consoles listed but do not own a XEGs and only own an 800xl and 130xe for the computer 8-bit line.

I own a CDX. I was able to grab mine loose with a power supply for $40 during my 2004 OKGE when Brian Cherry (One of the GameExchange owners in the Oklahoma area) decided to start selling off his personal collection. That collection included a table that had about a half dozen CDX systems on it. I still have it, and the last time I fired it up, it was still working fine. But they are known for having leaky caps and one of these days I need to be brave to open mine up so I can get those replaced out. The CDX basically uses the SegaCD model 2 BIOS as I recall so it doesn't really have a unique startup to it or anything. It was the first time I found out that there were differences in the CD setups though because the homebrew games Pier Solar and Escape 2042 would not work correctly with their CD music playback on my model 1 SegaCD but did work on my CDX and later on a model 2 SegaCD I now use. My CDX sits behind glass in a small case in the game room as a show piece item along with a few other things and my Dreamcast game collection.

ITC#81 was not planned by any means as is evident by the less than stellar camera and audio work in this one. But, an oppurtunity came up where I thought it would make for a good quick tech video and so in this one, I go through the troubleshooting steps for yet another Atari 5200 controller issue that was not the fault of the controller, but once again one of the pesky MUX controller chips. Hopefully this proves helpful for others if they should encounter a similar issue with their Atari 5200 and controllers.

I just realized I never posted about ITC#80! In this video I actually discuss one of more recently acquired MIDI sound module devices. This time, my MT-300. Similar to the MT-200 but with a different instrument set for tones with the ability to handle many more voices at once compared to the earlier modules. It has now taken its place and currently replacing the MT-200 as the GS/GM module for vintage computer games. Enjoy!

Oh... a XEGs you say? Hmmm....

Slowest my burner will burn at is 8x and I've never had an issue? I've got a few verbatim's but mostly used a stack of Taiyo Yuden's I had but have since ran out of.

I want to say I always had to use Discjuggler back in the day to make them. Since then I've installed a MODE into my DC and have all must stuff loaded up on it that I created back in the day.