HDN

What's kimchi?  I don't do olives of any color/flavor.  Nevermind.  I just Googled it.  Ew.  Salted and fermented veggies?  I'm out.  I'll stick with my Yakisoba Beef Teriyaki noodles.  To each their own.

Kimchi is amazing, though the process of making it is a little gross. My white Midwestern tongue cannot handle much of it at once, but I love it!

I like kimchi too.  It really can enhance some dishes. 

We've got a place near my home that does Korean sandwiches.  It's so simple, yet can be so good.  A fresh baguette with Korean pork and small topping of Kimchi.  So good. 

I was thinking we'd just start at the normal time that's listed on the calendar. So... that would be 8pm for me and 6pm for you. 

How have you been doing lately? I've not been having the best of times. My mom has been a pain. She's been very screamy. I keep trying to get my stuff back by doing what she wants but then she keeps changing what I have to do. "Get a hobby" she says, so I show her the poll. "Learn the ukulele" she says, so I learn to play a couple of chords and a few songs, like "Ram On" from McCartney's Ram album. "Learn a real instrument". Sometimes I feel like she hates me. I've woken up to her screaming for the past few days. It's hard, but at least I have my GBA and SNES. 

Do you think I should maybe get a GBA game with my discount? I could get Namco Museum.

I'm sorry to hear about your mom.  Perhaps there's something else going on.  It's such a difficult time for many with the pandemic causing so much change and havoc.  I wish you both the best. 

YOU must decide how to spend that discount!  Namco Museum is good in any format, but it's up to you! 

6pm has turned into dinner time here, so I will probably be late. 

This sucks a fair amount. I had hoped to play some O2 games multiplayer with my dad later. I mean, a lot of those games benefit from two players.

At least this way I have something to look forward to when the actual system inevitably arrives. Still sucks though.

And some games use the "right" joystick for one player games, right?  Do those work?

You have an option to toggle between the two. I guess we can take turns.

”Here, Dad, you can play Spinout! for five seconds and then it’s my turn!”

I would have to go with Ric, as most if not all of those songs on that cassette featured him on lead vocals. He had such a distinct voice.

I almost picked up a Cars album once a few years ago at the record store, but decided against it for whatever reason. I’ll have to borrow some from the library or something and listen to more of their stuff sometime.

Interesting.  When I (and they) were young, I preferred Ric too.  But as I aged, Benjamin Orr is my favorite.  I remember being so sad and shocked when he passed away too young. Let's see...just from memory:  "Just What I Needed", "It's All I Can Do".  OK, I think I know what will be on my playlist this weekend. 

There's no right/wrong answer.  They both are great. 

I never did see The Cars live.  Maybe they were part of one of the big "Live Aid" shows?  But that was on TV, so doesn't count.  I'm glad you brought this up, as it's good to remember. 

If your library has some, you should.  These guys were one of the great bands that pulled New Wave music more into the mainstream. 

First things first! We don't mind. 

@HDN, all is fine, as far as I know.  But this is a reminder:  As in life in general, enjoy the good while it's there.  Take care of friends -- even just to say hello.  I think we all know full well that life is full of ups and downs.  People like you and me must keep the IO spirit alive while the boss is busy.

Thanks, Gianna, for telling us about Justin. We were concerned about him. :O)

I will! You ever play? I imagine that you at least HAVE it, seeing as you've said you're a Game Boy collector as well. 

I think that many here at Atari.io would enjoy this game. Unlike the rest of the Metroid series, this game is more linear and skill-based.

One of these days, I'll need to get me Metroid: Zero Mission as well. That one is very good, a bit more like the rest of the games, and even has the original Metroid built-in! It's a remake of the first game. I saw it at the store a few months back (pre-pandemic) and didn't buy it. I didn't want to make the same mistake here.

Metroid games really hold their value and can be expensive today. They are generally some of the highest-regarded games on their respective systems. So far in the 2D series, I have Metroid on NES, Super Metroid on SNES, Samus Returns on 3DS, and now Fusion on GBA.

As for Game Boy Advance in general, I'm looking to get the rest of the Super Mario Advance series (I have 1 and 3 currently), Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario vs. DK, Link to the Past, the Kirby games, WarioWare, and a few others.

Very nice, Harry. You worked hard for your money, so enjoy.

I do not have that one, but I do have "Zero Mission" 

It’s also easier with a functioning R button! Back to square one I guess...

No R on your dsi?  I should give you the pink ds. It's fully functional. 

You are right about my DSi; no working R or L triggers. However, this is a DS Lite that I’m using here. This one has a broken touch screen (super unresponsive no matter how many times it is calibrated) and apparently R trigger as well.

Thankfully, now that my DSi is hacked, I can remap the trigger buttons for GBA games to face buttons that work. Metroid Fusion won’t work on there, and the thing doesn’t have a GBA slot like the DS Lite does. Minor trade offs for the amazing hacked goodness my DSi now has in abundance.

You can print one out yourself now!

Yes I can!  I am limiting myself to weekends only for now.  Work gets the priority for now.  I also need to buy different color filaments. 

This guy also agrees that de feet is at hand. 

Merry Christmas!

Nice!

Merry Christmas 🎄

Merry Christmas, Young!

I’m sorry about your dad, @RickR. I’m certain he’s looking down on you as well. The deceased live on in our memories and the stories we share about them.

This will lighten the mood for us both. Unless you’re afraid of snakes.

The ragtime giant snake is hilarious! 

Here's an oldie that I'll never get tired of.  A dude that sneezes into his trombone.
 

It's incredible how easy it can be to collect the old stuff if one sets their mind to it.  Very good job. 

Speaking for myself only, I find it really nice to see others starting the journey.  I'm one of those oldsters that rarely finds anything "new" to buy.  Homebrews are a good way to keep going.  But then again, I'd rather have fun playing old favorites.  Keep on telling us about it.  I find it fun to talk to you about it. 

Well, if you want me to keep on talking about it I will!

So far I have collected 91 Atari 2600 cartridges. I'd say around 50 of those didn't cost me anything (so either they came with the Atari or were gifts for birthday, Christmas, no reason), even more if you count the ones I got with my $5 discount. Most of the remaining 41-odd games were dirt cheap. About $1-5. Only two were above five bucks: Tunnel Runner and Mario Brothers. Both worth it in my opinion.

It may sound like I'm foolish with my money, but really I'm not THAT bad. A lot of that which I spent on those games was Christmas/birthday money, and I feel it was worth it. With my job now, I save 80% of my earnings for college and other future expenses and I save the other 20% for HDN-things like Atari. For every game I buy, I stop and think, "is it worth it?" That's why I don't have Math Gran Prix or Sprintmaster. I'm only getting the things I want (and if the price is decent).

The rarest game I have for my VCS (according to the AA rarity guide) is Private Eye. I kind of hate that game. Anyways, I'm not sure how accurate that is. I've seen a lot more Private Eyes out in the wild than Tunnel Runner. The only Tunnel Runner I've seen in the wild is the one I bought, and I don't think that should be the same rarity as Mario Brothers, which the game store has about 15 copies of at all times. 

On the "professional" side of things, my 7800 now has 25 games under its belt. However, I only bought 3 of them myself. PPII came with the system, I got One on One with my discount, and the game store just gave me Karateka. The only games I got were from chas10e: Food Fight, Xevious, and Galaga. The other 19 games were gifts. 18 of them were from cjherr, which was very nice of him. And one of the games, a homebrew, was from Young! Thank you guys!

The 7800 is also the home of my first ever duplicates for a home console. Cjherr also sent me two Xeviouses, PPII, and another Galaga. I want to give them away but I haven't been able to. The only one I have successfully given away was the PPII.

The rarest 7800 game I (according to the guide on AA) is Rampage, scoring a 5 just like Private Eye. HOWEVER, the most valuable 7800 game I have is Commando. It's a great game, and I'd highly recommend it if if wasn't, like, $70.

Awesome!

Why? And how did he get in when you were closed?

We had forgotten to lock the door and turn off the sign 

Whelp, glad it sounds like nothing bad happened outside of the creepiness factor

I usually do that after Halloween.  And I listen to Christmas music throughout the year.

🎄

I just got new outdoor Christmas lights installed. I upgraded to LED bulbs, so I should be able to leave them on for longer periods and not see a big bump in the electricity bill. I haven't turned them on yet though. I'll probably turn them on in a week or two.

Maybe it's because Sears itself is now a haunted house.  You can hear the ghosts of Kenmore and Craftsmen. 

Some say you can still hear K-Mart’s footsteps in the aisles in the dead of night…

"Diehard" batteries were a lie. 

That is awesome!  Congrats.  The UnoCart is really good, and I'm sure you're going to love it.  And Doug Venner is a really great and nice person.  Make sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel.  I like his videos a lot, and he deserves a lot more subscribers. 

Tip:  Get the Rom Hunter pack of roms here:  http://www.atarimania.com/rom_collection_archive_atari_2600_roms.html

I'm sure you already have them all, but this pack is special because they are pre-arranged in logical folders and will be usable on the UnoCart (or Harmony) just by unzipping to an SD card. 

I’m already subscribed! You’re right though, he has some very good videos there.

What’s all in the Rom Hunter pack? Just released games or home brews as well?

I don't think there are any homebrews, but it's the entire 2600 commercial library in both raw and arranged forms. 

Good luck 

I'm playing 2600 Star Raiders right now when I should be practicing! I've never really played this in the year I've owned it.

Wow, someone us already getting rid of a copy. Crazy 😀

Awesome -- looking forward to seeing what you've added to your collection.

I'll also encourage you to save up and buy a Harmony cart for the 2600 or Concerto for the 7800 so you can play homebrew rom files.

Scott's a good dude and a fine seller.  Enjoy your games. 

Glad you’re looking forward to it. I call myself an Atari fan, yet for nearly a year I haven’t owned some of these for my system!

Maybe I should get a Harmony cart someday.

If it's in the Phantasy Star series, that is a great JRPG. Which one, anyway?

No, not Phantasy Star. I tried PS 2 and 3 on Genesis and didn’t much care for them.

This game is Final Fantasy Legend, on Game Boy. It’s really interesting, straightforward, not too cryptic, and has some mechanics that go well with my playstyle.

The Final Fantasy series is pretty good, too. I beat the original NES Final Fantasy in a year. Interesting JRPG. :O)

I had to look it up.

What's the connection with your dad?

It’s just that this shirt is very on-brand for him to get me. 

Just for you, Harry, I spent a few minutes with Breakout for the first time 😄 To answer your question, yes, Super Breakout is totally worth picking up. Both in graphics and sound, it's a noticeable improvement over Breakout. The ball physics seem a bit more natural as well. It's a cheap common game and totally deserves to be added to your library.

It's worth it for the multi-ball/cavity variations alone. 

I think I'll give it a shot. Rick PM'ed me a few hours back and has a spare. I think I'll buy myself that along with a few others come next year. Thanks, Rick!

In the meantime, my paddles will be used for regular Breakout! I'm glad I have the picture label of this game. While I typically prefer the text labels, this one will perfectly match Super Breakout. 

I have one of those too, but I've never tried it.  You think you could give me a quick "how-to" set of steps?  I assume you must load an app and then what?  Just the plain youtube app?  But what do you do to get the 3d effect?  I'm lost!

There is supposed to be an app for the headset, but I don’t know what it is and haven’t gotten it. My headset is basically plastic with a tray for a phone.

On the YouTube app, click the 3 little dots and then “watch in VR”. Then I just slide it back into the headset. Tada!

So no, you don’t need a specific app. But, it’s an option.

That is helpful.  I'll give it a try very soon.  Thank you!

You call yourself a noon but you have more knowledge about the "retro" games than most people in my own generation.  I think that classifies you as a veteran gamer 😉

Noob only to this board (but not any more).  You've got a lot of good and fun knowledge of the old games, and that's so cool. 

Next stop...2,000.   

👍 🎉 Woot! Reputation milestone!  You know more about retro games than I do, so if you're a noob, what does that make me? 

By 4 non blondes?

@Gianna Yes

Didn't work. 

What fun! I loved baking Christmas cookies with my Grandma as a kid and my daughter when she was younger. 

I see Mario, Pac-Man, Blinky, the Super Star, and what I think is a Samus Aran. 

That is correct!

I'm not an artist, and some of the better-decorated cookies were my sister's. These are pre-cut cookies, so I think if I had some better ways of applying frosting (like one of those frosting bag things) I think they could look better. 

So yes, that's Gingerbread Man Samus and Mario. I used a tableknife to carve the metroid, Pac-Man, and Blinky. I think next year I will cut the cookies BEFORE they are baked. But I still think they look nice. Christmas cookies needn't be fancy. They're all going to the same place!

Good.  Keep up the good work.

That's great news, Harry!