fergojisan

Original Master System.
 
BECAUSE SNAIL MAZE

I think people on this thread will be interested in this.  Atari Adventure was ported to C++ and I've modified it (blasphemy, I know) to be an internet-based, multiplayer game.  You can see the concept in this promo video.  

If anyone is interested, I desperately need some beta testers.

Well, to nitpick, Superman used some code from Adventure and was released before Adventure was.
 
Thanks for the video Phil, wonderful job as always. Adventure and The Legend of Zelda are my top 2 video games of all time; I started playing Zelda because of Adventure.

So I guess it's time for another episode.
 
Episode 5 takes a look at a supercharged homage to an Intellivision classic. Just make sure you protect your arms from lightsabers.
 
http://homebrew78.fab4it.com/media/hbh_episode005.mp3
 
Show notes? Heh. Of course I have 'em -- they're right here!

I was lucky enough to hear it when he opened for the Monkees in 1987.

Too bad we'll probably never hear his parody of "Live and Let Die",   "Chicken Pot Pie".

Paul said no to that one because he's a vegetarian (or vegan). 

I think this is finally complete enough to share: I've put together a tabbed spreadsheet documenting major Sears and Atari 2600 game manual variations.  Sites like AtariMania, AtariBoxed, and VideoGameVariations are all extraordinarily useful, but I don't believe anyone has aggregated info on manuals like I've done here.  There wasn't a whole lot of variation going on with 5200 and 7800 manuals, but the 2600 is a different beast altogether.  A perfect example: including foreign language manuals/supplements, Combat has at least 8 major variants.
 
No, I'm not crazy enough (yet!) to track minor manual revisions...
 
Anyway, as esoteric as the subject of Atari manual variants may be, it's still a part of video gaming history.  There have been many recent/ongoing efforts to preserve and document information relating to old consoles and games, but I feel like Atari hasn't received nearly the level of attention as some others.  Certainly there are a number of online resources for Atari information already -- a few of which I named above -- but there's still lots of room left on the internet! 
 
I'll be continuing to add links to images of the lesser known manuals as I have the chance.  Please feel free to message me here or email me (address is at the top of the sheet) with images of uncommon manuals to be added.  I may eventually also extend this to cover manuals for third-party 2600 publishers and 5200/7800 manuals, but for now it's being limited to just 2600 Atari/Sears.

Officially, it will be on the rarities disc of his career-spanning box set coming out soon. He posted a video of it on Vevo.
 
I think I got my copy from Napster.

I have one with the keyboard, but I've never been able to get it to work. Maybe Willie can help me...  

I like the KayBee stickers because you can tell the year they got to the store. I have one or two from 1985 I believe.

I like the KayBee stickers because you can tell the year they got to the store. I have one or two from 1985 I believe.

"just released"???????
I've had an MP3 of this song since 7/11/14, I downloaded it from Dr. Demento Basement tapes #4. I never knew it wasn't released (or just out there)!!
 
It's OK....not my fav Pac-Man song of course, but it's on my MP3 player.

This is a thing of beauty.   If you ever get a chance to see Al live, DO IT!  It's just an incredibly fun show.   Very talented band too.

I like the KayBee stickers because you can tell the year they got to the store. I have one or two from 1985 I believe.

I'm glad it's finally out officially. Putting the intermission into the solo is genius! I was surprised that it doesn't sound much better than the version that's been floating around for the past 35 years. Oh well, still better than Buckner & Garcia.

I'm glad it's finally out officially. Putting the intermission into the solo is genius! I was surprised that it doesn't sound much better than the version that's been floating around for the past 35 years. Oh well, still better than Buckner & Garcia.

I'm glad it's finally out officially. Putting the intermission into the solo is genius! I was surprised that it doesn't sound much better than the version that's been floating around for the past 35 years. Oh well, still better than Buckner & Garcia.

Thanks.  I missed that.  It should have been mentioned somewhere -in- the book, and not -after- it. 
 
I also updated my comments about Pg. 164 regarding Atari paying "handsomely for the exclusive rights to bring Pac-Man to the 2600.”
I knew that wasn't true, and I tracked down comments about it from Steven Kent's "The First Quarter/Ultimate History of Video Games" books.  In them, according to a quote from Al Alcorn, Atari signed a deal with Namco in 1978 for $1 million that gave Atari the rights to all of Namco's arcade games.  Pac-Man (AKA Puck Man) didn't exist in 1978, and considering the success the game would eventually have, Atari paid far less than it was truly worth, and Atari also got Galaxian as part of the same deal.  Here's the quote from the book:
 
 
    The deal would have covered Galaxian and Pac-Man - both of which were released in 1979.  So Atari had a good 2, almost 3 YEARS to port both games, and what we got was a lousy 4K port of Pac-Man, done in the 4th quarter of 1981, and finally released in March 1982..  VCS Galaxian wasn't released until a year after VCS Pac-Man, and even then was contracted out to GCC.  Atari had all the time in the world to do both, and didn't.  Makes me wonder how many games Atari licensed to port, and didn't for whatever reason (never assigned, forgotten about, etc).   Btw, the deal didn't cost Robbins his job, since he was with Atari  until 1982.  If anything, Robbins should have lost his job over the $50,000 Centipede contest fiasco (http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/search?q=joe+robbins).  Alcorn was right about Namco not having any hits.  In fact, they didn't have much of anything at that point, other than Gee Bee.  How long (how many years) the deal was effective is unknown, but it didn't cover Pole Position, which was released in 1982, which was part of a different deal Atari made with Namco. 

Does anybody else enjoy seeing original price tags on old game stuff?
I didn't used to. I'd be one of those guys who carefully tried to remove them.
But something has changed. Now I rather like them! (except the large ones that cover the art)
Take for instance the Ice Hockey tag only $1.99.
 


 
It looks like a drug store item...and guess what? it was!
This must have been a crash discount.
 
Also, look at this Sky Jinks:
 


 
Same price. Maybe same store. But it looks like it came from the clearance section of a grocery store. Makes me wish I had a time machine!
 
So how about you? Do you like them? Do you have any pictures to share?
 

Pretty awesome parody of The Beatles' "Tax Man".  I'm a huge fan, but I think anyone can enjoy this one!
 
Article: http://nerdist.com/weird-al-pac-man-box-set/
 
Direct link to lyric video: http://vevo.ly/6nLvQX

Will the Gemini joystick/paddle controller work on this console?

I've run across this phenomenon many times in my podcast research, I wish I could remember all the titles offhand. I agree with Ballblazer's second point, that it may be related to the lawsuit. Which may be why there's some Activision titles as well. In the case of Frogger, they were supposed to put it out in 1987 but they didn't.
 
Frogger: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-frogger_25805.html
 
Cakewalk: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cakewalk_27710.html
 
Chopper Command: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-chopper-command_27919.html
 
Cosmic Ark: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cosmic-ark_27915.html
 
You get the point. The caveat here is that these haven't been dumped. Rabbit Transit from Starpath has been though.
 
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-rabbit-transit_11876.html
 
It's weird.

I've run across this phenomenon many times in my podcast research, I wish I could remember all the titles offhand. I agree with Ballblazer's second point, that it may be related to the lawsuit. Which may be why there's some Activision titles as well. In the case of Frogger, they were supposed to put it out in 1987 but they didn't.
 
Frogger: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-frogger_25805.html
 
Cakewalk: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cakewalk_27710.html
 
Chopper Command: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-chopper-command_27919.html
 
Cosmic Ark: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-cosmic-ark_27915.html
 
You get the point. The caveat here is that these haven't been dumped. Rabbit Transit from Starpath has been though.
 
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-rabbit-transit_11876.html
 
It's weird.

This one here? (eBay, $1800 BIN)
 
There have been other third-party protos found in Atari loaner shells (Activision's Bridge and Checkers, Parker Bros' Frogger, and Imagic's Trick Shot and Demon Attack, as a few examples).
 
I think it's legit.  The auction puts forward two theories:
 
1) It was programmed by someone at Atari, and the rights were then sold to Mystique
2) It's related to the lawsuit filed by Atari against Mystique
 
I think #2 is far more likely, though it's certainly possible that it's for another reason entirely -- someone once suggested that the third-party games in Atari loaners were a result of Atari testing to make sure that another publisher's cartridge didn't damage or otherwise affect the console hardware.

*blush* Thanks, fergojisan.   (if that is your real name!)