dgrubb

First to set the scene, the time was sometime during the original retail sales of the Sega Genesis (IE: TOO LONG AGO  )
Place - Canada, Toronto Ontario to be specific. 
 
The first ever Mega Drive game I ever heard about I seen in person and this is how that happened. 
Curse by Micronet was my personal introduction to a "bigger world". Meaning, though I was aware video games and consoles were sold and enjoyed worldwide I was not aware in the differences in console names, styles, colors etc. A tiny electronics shop opened in my neighborhood and due to my typical curiosity I entered the shop and up on the shelf was a box with what looked to me to be a Sega Genesis except the coloring of the trim was slightly different and it had this really cool name "Mega Drive" so I asked and got the story how it was the "Japaneses  import version of my beloved Genesis!    How cool I thought, sadly I did not have enough money to buy it BUT I did have enough to buy one of the import games on display and it was this very game, the cover art grabbed me immediately and I had not heard of this games "Curse" but I knew I liked games like Gradius and of course Life Force on NES was a old favorite and the style of this shooter reminded me of an upgraded version. So I bought it right then and there excitedly wondering what it would be like, the graphics represented on the box looked amazing. OF COURSE as you are probably thinking I was in for  little bit of a shock when I attempted to plug the cartridge in, it was too wide for the slot! Now the weirdest part is, I was so disappointed and though I had not heard of this previously I was always a bit of a tinkerer so I took a nail file, dismantled the Genesis and began filing the slot sides, it seemed to take forever and the end result was not pretty but I plugged it in, turned it on and.....YES !!!!! It worked, and a whole new world was open to me. Of course the knowledge of this "mod" was well known to many and common place for many but when I did it I had no idea if it would actually work. Now there were pitfalls to be sure as I would also come to learn that some titles would still refuse to run due to regional lockouts and even more surprising some games would have unexpected content in the form of 16 bit boobs or unexpected amounts of blood etc, it would only be years later trying the same titles on a friends actual Mega Drive that I learned the content and sometimes even the title screens changed depending on if they were loaded onto a Genesis or Mega Drive lol. Still to me it was fascinating and magical and something I still enjoy today.   

So is it ok to rip the tag off my mattress now?

It's occurred to me that a lot of us are nearing or past the big 5-0 in age.  And we've been gaming for a good 40 years!  Let's talk about gaming as we get older.  Your complaints are fine here, as are tips.
 
I'll start.
 
First of all, I turn 50 this year.  For the past couple of years, I've had a lot of trouble seeing the various handheld consoles (PSP, DS, GBA, even Lynx ).  I'd end up taking my glasses off to see more clearly, but would end up with a huge headache every time.  Plus, I just wasn't as good at those games anymore.  But then....I got progressive lens eyeglasses...and BOOM!  Back in the game, baby!  I can see no problem now.  I feel so good now, I've sent my Lynx out for a McWill screen upgrade.

If I am ever placed in a home my 5200 stuff goes with me! If I can have more than one console it would be all the Atari stuff. If I can't then the Lynx will go with me. I'll be darned if I'm going to be caught without some sort of gaming machine. I can hide a Lynx in a drawer beside a bed.
 
As for modern stuff, the 360 and Wii are as modern as I have. Wife and I play Borderlands a LOT and it still surprises me that the developers are still issuing Gold Keys for Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel. We were more than happy to kill Handsome Jack after what he did to his daughter. He deserved it. His daughter, known as Angel, has become my favorite NPC character of all-time. I could only imagine what skills she would have if she was a playable character. We also play Terraria, Minecraft, Farming Simulator and Farming Simulator 2015 on 360. I have also dug into all of the Saint's Row series. I like Halo but I am not a huge fan of the series.
 
Wii Bowling tournaments? Are you talking about the bowling game in Resort? It is a fun game. And the Wii is really a good console. So far I have not ran into any shovelwear. Then again I have been getting picky with the Wii games I try to find. Right now I have been working on Six Meier's Pirates which has been a lot of fun.
 
On the PC side of things, Steam is my gaming source of choice. It is here I have discovered six of my top-favorite modern Indie games. Both Euro Trucking Simulators, American Trucking Simulator, Car Mechanic Simulator 2013 & 2015, and a physical copy of Farming Simulator 2013 edition.
 
As for living through the early years of video games, the likes of Atari, Coleco, and Mattel may have started the video game industry but we are the reason the industry is still around. Its not because they kept releasing machines, its because we bought and supported them. Without us they wouldn't be here.
 
I have to admit that it is a shame that there isn't any differences between a modern PC, XBOX, or PS4 now. All are X86 systems. XBOX canned its Indie support a while back. The only company making a difference is Nintendo with its Switch hybrid console/tablet and allowing Indie developers to make games for it with great success. For the first time ever anyone can join Nintendo's development program for free, obtain their development software for free, and get started right away. The only drawback is the developer will have buy the development hardware which makes sense. However, I have no clue how much that costs. I would love to try my hand at it someday.

The Jr. is interesting because it exemplifies how elegant and minimalist the original 2600 design was. Typically, when companies release successor consoles ("slim" versions and whatnot) they achieve a lower price point by knocking the bill-of-materials cost down through merging ASICs and simplifying the circuitry. If you look at the schematics and PCB layout for both the original and the Jr. they're still, largely, identical (not that there's much to merge together when you only have three ICs, mind). All the cost savings are achieved through industrial design and the natural gains of a decade of chip manufacturing optimisation.

The Jr. is interesting because it exemplifies how elegant and minimalist the original 2600 design was. Typically, when companies release successor consoles ("slim" versions and whatnot) they achieve a lower price point by knocking the bill-of-materials cost down through merging ASICs and simplifying the circuitry. If you look at the schematics and PCB layout for both the original and the Jr. they're still, largely, identical (not that there's much to merge together when you only have three ICs, mind). All the cost savings are achieved through industrial design and the natural gains of a decade of chip manufacturing optimisation.

The only specs different are in colors produced and the RF circuitry. Instead of having a premade modulator Junior has the modulator circuits on the motherboard. Doing so gives it a slightly better signal. Junior also gives richer color tones compared to the original...at least mine does. Love the little guy!

The Jr. is interesting because it exemplifies how elegant and minimalist the original 2600 design was. Typically, when companies release successor consoles ("slim" versions and whatnot) they achieve a lower price point by knocking the bill-of-materials cost down through merging ASICs and simplifying the circuitry. If you look at the schematics and PCB layout for both the original and the Jr. they're still, largely, identical (not that there's much to merge together when you only have three ICs, mind). All the cost savings are achieved through industrial design and the natural gains of a decade of chip manufacturing optimisation.

Of course I love my various variations of the original Atari 2600, as well as the absolutely monstrous Atari 5200 but also as shown here I really kind of dig the Atari 2600 Junior. Just love the small compact size of these things. As well since I have two of them I may give painting one of the shells a try someday.
 

So as some of you already know, I picked this up in a Goodwill for $10. It came packed in a plastic bag that may have originally stored some sort of bedding stuff. 

 
This set is supposed to have over 1,300 pieces. I have no idea if it is missing any, but it is missing one of the three books, but I should be able to find it online. Also, it appears to have some extra stuff in here as well as some of the Destroyer parts already built.
I decided to make this a father son project. Building a set like this from a massive bag of pieces is pretty challenging. Usually they bag pieces in groups to make it easier. We also decided to try to break most of the stuff down into individual pieces to make sure we aren't missing anything. We are doing this in chunks and I will try to post the process as we go.
 
DAY 1 - Main Floor (I think)

 
DAY 2 - Outer Beams for Main Floor (I think)

The Spectrum community have produced exactly that:
 
https://www.specnext.com/about/

I don't understand what the issue is with reproducing an old computer or console. Like, these mini plug and plays are cool, but I'd buy a new Commodore 64 or something like that in a heartbeat. An new retro style computer with a homebrew community would be cool. Selling games out of the basement and working to make games and all of that. 

A very comprehensive review from The 8-Bit Guy:
 

 
What do you guys think?

I'm not entirely sure the comparisons to Coleco Chameleon are warranted. This may well end up being a flop or a complete waste of time, but unlike the Chameleon everything that's been announced (streaming, emulation and Minecraft-level games) is realistic for a small team to accomplish using off-the-shelf components (Linux on a low-end Intel device with an AMD GPU). There's no large scale custom FPGA work to do, for instance. I can at least see the path to actually building something.
 
Whether what they build will be desirable to Atari fans or a new customer base remains to be seen, but that's an entirely different issue than faked up prototypes obscured with electrical tape.

At this point I'd say the Retron 77 is more likely to materialize. Cautiously optimistic but this thing screams coleco chameleon 

I actually really love the design of the console and their branding artwork. I don't know why, but this opinion really offends some people (admittedly, on somewhat rowdier forums than this one).

I actually really love the design of the console and their branding artwork. I don't know why, but this opinion really offends some people (admittedly, on somewhat rowdier forums than this one).

I actually really love the design of the console and their branding artwork. I don't know why, but this opinion really offends some people (admittedly, on somewhat rowdier forums than this one).

To be fair, they did update the website too. It looks like they might be fans of atari.io/7800 Ave.

You're not.  I dig both controllers. 

Atari Fifty-Who-Hundred

I might be in the minority, but I like the "modern meets Atari" look of both controllers.

Here's another 10 line game GATES, just wrote it on Sunday, it's in the 10x120 character category but has space for more features still (about 60% full):
 
0 if joy0up=1 then player0y=player0y+1:t=1-t else player0y=player0y-t:t=1-t: rem ** GATES, Atari 2600 10 lineBASIC Game!
1 if joy0left=1 then player0x=player0x-1 else player0x=player0x+2
2 if g=0 then BYTErowoffset=120:for j=0 to 3:player0(j)=pl(j):player0colors(j)=p2(j):next j:g=1 else goto 4
3 for x=20 to 70 step 10:for y = 0 to 19:vwpixel(x,y,on):next y,x:player0x=52:player0y=50:data pl 240,255,127,240
4 if e>7 then e=0:BITIndex=BITIndex+1:missile1x=missile1x+3:missile1y=missile1y+1 else e=e+1:return
5 if l<20 then l=l+1 else l=0:data p2 $36,$64,$76,$36:data R 3,8,2,0,3,8,8,5,3,0,3,5,8,8,5,5,8,5,3,0,2
6 scrollvirtualworldtoggle=1:AUDV0=0:COLUBK=0:x=BITIndex/10:rem get remainder!
7 if b=0 then x=x*10:x=x+10:vwpixel(x,R(l)+10,flip):vwpixel(x,R(l)+11,flip)
8 if  CXP0FB>127 then CXCLR=0:COLUBK=$34:AUDC0=4:AUDF0=l:AUDV0=31:g=0:BITIndex=0
9 if BITIndex>71 then BITIndex=0 else for j=0 to 9:rowcolors(j)=rowcolors(j)+2:next j
 
Here are the binaries for the SuperCharger and the Flashback Portable, also check out the incredible Defender II clone a few posts above in the 10x256 character category:
 
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/274782-basic-ten-liners-are-back-for-2018/page-3?do=findComment&comment=3978826

Yes, BASIC is so simple it makes it easy to write a fun Atari game in just 10 lines of code!
 
Flashback BASIC and SuperCharger BASIC have familiar classic BASIC graphics commands including semigraphics and sprite commands and also a soft blitter chip like the Niintendo PPU that you can use to scroll the screen around.
 
Take a look at my entry in the 10 lines x 120 characters category from 2016, 9lineBlitzII:
 
0 data city 1,4,2,5,3,2,3,1,4,1,1,1,5,2,2,3,1,4,1,4,3,1,4,4,1,1,2,2,3,1,3,4,5,4,4,3,4,5,1,2,4,1,5,2,2,3,1,3,1,1,4,1
1 if g=0 then for j=0 to 7:player1(j)=189:player0(j)=pl(j):next j:BYTErowoffset=120:COLUPF=$50:COLUP0=$b4 else goto 3
2 for j=20 to 71:k=j-20:k=city(k)+14:for i=k to 19:vwpixel(j,i,on):next i,j:player0y=96:player0x=84:COLUP1=$74:y=21:g=1
3 COLUBK=0:AUDV0=0:scrollvirtualworldtoggle=1:BITIndex=BITIndex+1:missile0x=missile0x+2:data pl 0,224,127,231,252,192
4 if joy0fire=1 and y>18 then AUDF0=6:AUDC0=8:AUDV0=15:x=BITIndex+9:y=11:i=96-player0y:i=i/10:y=y+i:data P 128,0
5 if y<19 then vwpixel(x,y,bindplayer1):j=y-10:y=y+1:COLUP1=M(j) else player1y=0:data M $64,$54,$b4,$a4,$32,$44,$c4,$94
6 if y<20 and vwpixel(x,y,poll)>0 then vwpixel(x,y,flip):player1x=0:player1y=0:AUDC0=y:y=21:AUDF0=4:AUDV0=15:data N $f4
7 if BITIndex>71 then BITIndex=0:player0y=player0y-2 else missile1x=missile1x+1:missile1y=missile1y+3:data O $54,66,$42
8 if CXP0FB>126 then CXCLR=0:g=0:for i=0 to 255:AUDF0=i:AUDV0=i:COLUBK=$34:next i else missile0y=missile0y+2
 
9LineBlitzII.bin
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s79yguBa0FU

Yes..it is...but then the SuperNT came along and is out now essentially beating RCG to the punch. But I do love RCG's stands and have the clear Lynx, OG Gameboy, 2x - New 3Dxl, 3x - Wii remote, 3x - Genesis cart stands. When you have a game room with collection pieces in it, these stands not only make the setup look that more professional, but also make it easier to cram more crap together in smaller spaces as well! LOL