CrossBow

Not a ton of pickups recently, but I did get two of these games as part of a trade towards console services I provided to a friend of mine who is also a retro gaming enthusiast. 

The two games being 7800 Midnight Mutants and 5200 Dreadnaught Factor. Midnight Mutants isn't sealed but is complete and in really nice condition overall. This means I might have a spare loose cart and possibly manual I can trade out soon. But the Dreadnaught Factor is sealed and unopened with the original retail stickers on it from back in the early 80s. 
onEscape is cool new point n click type adventure game for the Atari 8-bit computers. It has a wonderful pokey soundtrack that you can only fully take advantage of with a stereo pokey setup in the console. It also features some really nice pixel art in quite a few places with an intro cutscenes. Its only drawback if you want to consider it that, is there isn't a save option so it does require playing through it in one sitting. However, it is quite short so once you know what to do, you can get through the game in a matter of less than 10min at that point. Still always happy to support the community making these awesome brews for our old systems and the soundtrack really is kinda worth the price of admission in this case.
The Genesis cartridge you see titled 'Decoder' is another music album put on cart from a pretty well known chiptune artist by the name of Remute. This cartridge instead of being a jukebox style album, actually has graphic novel you read through that has the music playing between each portion you read. There is even some short FMV sequences it plays while reading through the story and the still pics are quite colorful and detailed making excellent use of the Genesis palette restrictions. There is a standard jukebox mode as well but it isn't very interactive in that you just choose that mode and it just plays through each song in full one by one, so the real star of that cart is the graphic novel you read through.

It was just announced that Rikki & Vikki comes with each 7800GD you buy from Stone Age Gamer. Apparently that was the reason for their increased base pricing over what it should have been is that they are including the ROM for R&V with the cart.
 

In regards to the AA sale... I only know that from talking with a few Devs that knew about this slightly ahead of the rest of us, that Albert has been looking to possibly take AtariAge more mainstream. And it is quite likely he needs the help and support of the current Atari do make that happen. But that also means that the questionable ports of games had to go.
That said, there are some others that have been left out of the sale that I've questioned Albert about but he hasn't quite replied back. Namely I noticed that both Intellidiscs and Rob n Banks are still safe for now.
Intellidiscs is clearly a remake/port of Deadly discs that existed back in the day for both the Intellivision and the 2600 from Mattel and Rob n Banks is clearly a port of the arcade game Lock n Chase. I found that interesting and odd.
Also, it can't be coincidence that some of the home brew authors now have their games being offered digitally on the new VCS. I have to assume that a possible agreement between Al and those home brew devs has taken place. Because while the Devs can work with Atari directly on their games to get digital distribution, it could possible cut into Al's sales of physical carts as a consequence. Albert has been wanting to offer digital roms for awhile and just waiting on the best way to go about it with the forums and website integration. But... Atari has such a distribution in place or at least, the resources to make that more easily done... That was a thought a friend of mine brought up with me this weekend.
 

In regards to the AA sale... I only know that from talking with a few Devs that knew about this slightly ahead of the rest of us, that Albert has been looking to possibly take AtariAge more mainstream. And it is quite likely he needs the help and support of the current Atari do make that happen. But that also means that the questionable ports of games had to go.
That said, there are some others that have been left out of the sale that I've questioned Albert about but he hasn't quite replied back. Namely I noticed that both Intellidiscs and Rob n Banks are still safe for now.
Intellidiscs is clearly a remake/port of Deadly discs that existed back in the day for both the Intellivision and the 2600 from Mattel and Rob n Banks is clearly a port of the arcade game Lock n Chase. I found that interesting and odd.
Also, it can't be coincidence that some of the home brew authors now have their games being offered digitally on the new VCS. I have to assume that a possible agreement between Al and those home brew devs has taken place. Because while the Devs can work with Atari directly on their games to get digital distribution, it could possible cut into Al's sales of physical carts as a consequence. Albert has been wanting to offer digital roms for awhile and just waiting on the best way to go about it with the forums and website integration. But... Atari has such a distribution in place or at least, the resources to make that more easily done... That was a thought a friend of mine brought up with me this weekend.
 

It was just announced that Rikki & Vikki comes with each 7800GD you buy from Stone Age Gamer. Apparently that was the reason for their increased base pricing over what it should have been is that they are including the ROM for R&V with the cart.
 

It was just announced that Rikki & Vikki comes with each 7800GD you buy from Stone Age Gamer. Apparently that was the reason for their increased base pricing over what it should have been is that they are including the ROM for R&V with the cart.
 

This is correct and I was told by another who spoke with Tim Worthington on this, that he isn't planning to bring it back without a redesign due to parts he used no longer being cost feasible. So... to me, that essentially means the end of his kits for the 2600 until someone else comes along...
 

Funkmaster V and Silverback try to do the damned thing again as there seems to be A BUNCH of Atari 7800 news and rumors floating around. They will share their top 5 homebrews of the last 2 years, talk about Atari Age rumors, Atari VCS news, the 7800GD and even mo'. Stay tuned. #atarivcs #atari #atari7800
 
 

More arrivals...  I still don't know if I'm going to open these since I already have the games.

This is already open.  😆

The Atari XP reissue of Super Breakout is one fine looking  cart! It's easily my favorite so far.

 

UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon while I was cleaning a 7800 case shell...

 
Inside, it contained a treasure trove of wonderous items to behold! And has created a huge challenge for me to find places where all of it will go!!!

Better pics of what arrived...

The cart only stuff below is the 32k enhanced version of Zaxxon (Part of the store sale that will be going away soon), and then I got dedicated test cartridges for use in console services. I've been using flash carts to do this for the past 5+ years and finally decided I needed Al to make me carts for the 5200. He hasn't offered the 5200 PAM diagnostics before but I believe he will be adding them to the store soon. I designed the labels on them but not sure he will continue to use those going forward or not. I also had him assemble those 5200 carts withOUT spring loaded dust doors on them. Reason is because most of the time when using them, you are likely to have the top cover removed on the 5200 while servicing it. Well, the pegs for the dust doors are actually part of the top shell molding so without that top cover, the carts can't be inserted easily. Without those dust covers, I can pop these carts into place without issue.

UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon while I was cleaning a 7800 case shell...

 
Inside, it contained a treasure trove of wonderous items to behold! And has created a huge challenge for me to find places where all of it will go!!!

Better pics of what arrived...

The cart only stuff below is the 32k enhanced version of Zaxxon (Part of the store sale that will be going away soon), and then I got dedicated test cartridges for use in console services. I've been using flash carts to do this for the past 5+ years and finally decided I needed Al to make me carts for the 5200. He hasn't offered the 5200 PAM diagnostics before but I believe he will be adding them to the store soon. I designed the labels on them but not sure he will continue to use those going forward or not. I also had him assemble those 5200 carts withOUT spring loaded dust doors on them. Reason is because most of the time when using them, you are likely to have the top cover removed on the 5200 while servicing it. Well, the pegs for the dust doors are actually part of the top shell molding so without that top cover, the carts can't be inserted easily. Without those dust covers, I can pop these carts into place without issue.

UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon while I was cleaning a 7800 case shell...

 
Inside, it contained a treasure trove of wonderous items to behold! And has created a huge challenge for me to find places where all of it will go!!!

Better pics of what arrived...

The cart only stuff below is the 32k enhanced version of Zaxxon (Part of the store sale that will be going away soon), and then I got dedicated test cartridges for use in console services. I've been using flash carts to do this for the past 5+ years and finally decided I needed Al to make me carts for the 5200. He hasn't offered the 5200 PAM diagnostics before but I believe he will be adding them to the store soon. I designed the labels on them but not sure he will continue to use those going forward or not. I also had him assemble those 5200 carts withOUT spring loaded dust doors on them. Reason is because most of the time when using them, you are likely to have the top cover removed on the 5200 while servicing it. Well, the pegs for the dust doors are actually part of the top shell molding so without that top cover, the carts can't be inserted easily. Without those dust covers, I can pop these carts into place without issue.

UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon while I was cleaning a 7800 case shell...

 
Inside, it contained a treasure trove of wonderous items to behold! And has created a huge challenge for me to find places where all of it will go!!!

Better pics of what arrived...

The cart only stuff below is the 32k enhanced version of Zaxxon (Part of the store sale that will be going away soon), and then I got dedicated test cartridges for use in console services. I've been using flash carts to do this for the past 5+ years and finally decided I needed Al to make me carts for the 5200. He hasn't offered the 5200 PAM diagnostics before but I believe he will be adding them to the store soon. I designed the labels on them but not sure he will continue to use those going forward or not. I also had him assemble those 5200 carts withOUT spring loaded dust doors on them. Reason is because most of the time when using them, you are likely to have the top cover removed on the 5200 while servicing it. Well, the pegs for the dust doors are actually part of the top shell molding so without that top cover, the carts can't be inserted easily. Without those dust covers, I can pop these carts into place without issue.

UPS dropped this off yesterday afternoon while I was cleaning a 7800 case shell...

 
Inside, it contained a treasure trove of wonderous items to behold! And has created a huge challenge for me to find places where all of it will go!!!

Better pics of what arrived...

The cart only stuff below is the 32k enhanced version of Zaxxon (Part of the store sale that will be going away soon), and then I got dedicated test cartridges for use in console services. I've been using flash carts to do this for the past 5+ years and finally decided I needed Al to make me carts for the 5200. He hasn't offered the 5200 PAM diagnostics before but I believe he will be adding them to the store soon. I designed the labels on them but not sure he will continue to use those going forward or not. I also had him assemble those 5200 carts withOUT spring loaded dust doors on them. Reason is because most of the time when using them, you are likely to have the top cover removed on the 5200 while servicing it. Well, the pegs for the dust doors are actually part of the top shell molding so without that top cover, the carts can't be inserted easily. Without those dust covers, I can pop these carts into place without issue.

I posted this over on a similar thread at AA yesterday, but thought I would share it here too. This is where the bulk of my LEGO sets I do have put together are located. This is actually along the top of a long executive credenza made back in the 80s that I use as my computer desk center. Some Hotwheels and Transformers in these pics but yeah... no room for something as large as this 2600 LEGO set I'm afraid. I also have the large R2-D2 set that sits on a shelf that wasn't shown in the pic but yeah... no room!!!

 

 

Well I'm not as cool as you as I only have just the one that Machine made and sold a few years back. But after a shipping mistake on my part, I got the 'official' box for mine yesterday. Nice to see it all come together. Wonder if he will make a manual for them in the future? Hmm...

 

 

The cable from ebay only offers composite and audio near as I can tell and most RGB setups from a console are NOT going to provide a composite signal, only the Red, Green, Blue, and Sync in most cases. Although it is advised that at least +5 be present on the cable since a lot of switchers require that +5 power to know when the signal is active on the cable and switch to it. I know that I always wire up +5 on the RGB ports I've installed. That said, ONLY my more recent installs using 9-pin cables will provide a composite video signal along with the RGB. In the case of your Intellivision, I believe it is an 8-pin din and only has the RGB, S, L/R audio, Gnd, and +5 on it. So it is possible that without the full composite signal on the RGB, that the switchers you were getting weren't working right or something. 
 
All of my current RGB installs as I said will include the +5v (Yours should have that as well on your Intelly), along with a full composite signal when possible depending on the console. HDRetrovision cables, and the Rad2x cables require the +5 and composite on the RGB to work for instance. But I'm getting off track now...
 
 

I'm confused...which cable did get exactly from Retro Gaming Cables? Because I've ordered a bunch of their stuff and never had an issue? Also I would have reached out to them as they are very standup types and would likely fix you up on that cable. 
NM I clicked on the links to see. No idea why that combo wouldn't have worked for you? I do know that SCART setups in JPN were different from the EU, but everything from Retrogaming cables would be based on the EU standards and if they were using the JPN format it would specify as such. So again, very strange to see you have such bad luck with their stuff as again, they are pretty much the ONLY ones I advise getting RGB cables from.
 
 

I'm confused...which cable did get exactly from Retro Gaming Cables? Because I've ordered a bunch of their stuff and never had an issue? Also I would have reached out to them as they are very standup types and would likely fix you up on that cable. 
NM I clicked on the links to see. No idea why that combo wouldn't have worked for you? I do know that SCART setups in JPN were different from the EU, but everything from Retrogaming cables would be based on the EU standards and if they were using the JPN format it would specify as such. So again, very strange to see you have such bad luck with their stuff as again, they are pretty much the ONLY ones I advise getting RGB cables from.
 
 

Well, I might just use my heatgun on low heat to lift the labels and reverse the PCBs myself. And the labels are really poor looking compared to what we are used to from recent releases from AtariAge. Mine all have a very soft and semi washed out look to them with a lamination like effect on them that isn't the normal gloss we are used to. I do like that the boxes are standard Atari box sizes though because they do fit correctly in my box protectors. 

@Funkmaster V did you notice that several of the rooms in the game might have familiar names besides "Funk's Burrow"? hehe...
 
And Muddy may...or may not already be in the design phase for additional games related to this one...
 

And you have an older version of the RGB board installed. It does work with the OSSC but only in a few modes reliably. The ones I install now are pretty much compatible with all known scalers and will even work with those cheap Genesis 2 to HDMI cable sets like the one from Hyperkin as an example. But yes, RGB output is quite amazing when you have the setup for it. There are still some instances where I prefer to use the s-video from a console over the RGB due to slight stability and softness issues I have with RGB output in general.
The Jaguar is one of those consoles. I have the RGB cable for it and it does work, but it isn't very stable through my OSSC and I find I have to change the scaling mode between games to get a stable picture and even then... it might still blank out on me ever few min for a sec or two. So I'm quite likely switch back to s-video on my Jag. My SNESjr through restored RGB wasn't stable either and I had to purchase and install an additional dejitter board to it before it was stable. The genesis will depend on which model you are using to connect to it. The RGB on earlier model 1 units is riddled with issues due to PCB design with other signals inteferring with the RGB output. As a result there are a few mods that can be done to correct for the horrid jail bars that RGB output on those earlier Genesis console will produce. I took the cheap method and removed the color subcarrier trace completely off the board that is the main cause. But as I might still want composite and s-video to work, I wired in a switch on the back to enable and disable the subcarrier signal through a new set of wires that run away from the RGB lines. More expensive is to have a triple bypass RGB board installed. But that will disable the composite completely and remove the RF modulator in favor of a new Genesis 2 AV jack to be installed to supercede the original larger DIN jack that is on the model 1 units. The method I went with removed over 90% of the jail bars and was enough for me to be very happy with the output and I'm pretty OCD about it.
I will also state that I can't really tell much of a difference between component and RGB on my AV setup. So I can go either way when offered on which to use. But... actual true digital output like those you can get for the OG xbox and Dreamcast are amazing!
 

And you have an older version of the RGB board installed. It does work with the OSSC but only in a few modes reliably. The ones I install now are pretty much compatible with all known scalers and will even work with those cheap Genesis 2 to HDMI cable sets like the one from Hyperkin as an example. But yes, RGB output is quite amazing when you have the setup for it. There are still some instances where I prefer to use the s-video from a console over the RGB due to slight stability and softness issues I have with RGB output in general.
The Jaguar is one of those consoles. I have the RGB cable for it and it does work, but it isn't very stable through my OSSC and I find I have to change the scaling mode between games to get a stable picture and even then... it might still blank out on me ever few min for a sec or two. So I'm quite likely switch back to s-video on my Jag. My SNESjr through restored RGB wasn't stable either and I had to purchase and install an additional dejitter board to it before it was stable. The genesis will depend on which model you are using to connect to it. The RGB on earlier model 1 units is riddled with issues due to PCB design with other signals inteferring with the RGB output. As a result there are a few mods that can be done to correct for the horrid jail bars that RGB output on those earlier Genesis console will produce. I took the cheap method and removed the color subcarrier trace completely off the board that is the main cause. But as I might still want composite and s-video to work, I wired in a switch on the back to enable and disable the subcarrier signal through a new set of wires that run away from the RGB lines. More expensive is to have a triple bypass RGB board installed. But that will disable the composite completely and remove the RF modulator in favor of a new Genesis 2 AV jack to be installed to supercede the original larger DIN jack that is on the model 1 units. The method I went with removed over 90% of the jail bars and was enough for me to be very happy with the output and I'm pretty OCD about it.
I will also state that I can't really tell much of a difference between component and RGB on my AV setup. So I can go either way when offered on which to use. But... actual true digital output like those you can get for the OG xbox and Dreamcast are amazing!
 

For me the 7800 is really where it has been at lately. Course I might be biased... 😉
I do own a TurboDUO with a v2 TurboED cart. But... I still play on my 5200 more than I do my TurboDUO. It has some great games to be sure, but it just doesn't seem to have quite the same magic for me that Atari and Sega systems do.
One note on the 5200 and the VCS adapter. As @- Ω -'s 5200 has a UAV installed and I believe the RF was left intact, he would only be able to use the RF output for the VCS adapter.