[Games that influenced your gaming tastes]

I have a few:

SUPER METROID, of course, was a really big one for me. This was a game where I could explore to my heart’s content, find secrets, and explore incredibly atmospheric worlds on the planet Zebes. From the moment I first saw the game I was blown away and intrigued. Not only did this game shape my gaming tastes, but it in a way helped shape me as a person. Ten years after first playing it, Super Metroid is still my favorite video game of all time. 
LUIGI’S MANSION is incredibly nostalgic for me. My sister and I spent many hours combing through the mansion for everything we could find. Building upon my tastes established in Super Metroid, Luigi’s Mansion had an atmospheric and foreboding (yet still friendly in a twisted way) mansion to explore, filled to the brim with portrait ghosts oozing with character. The lore of this game, as silly and one-dimensional as it seems, is what really drew me in.

And for my final two picks, VS. SUPER MARIO BROTHERS and SUPER MARIO BROTHERS (ALL-STARS EDITION). These two had arguably the most influence of them all; the former for introducing me to video games and the latter for making me fall in love with them. One day in 2010, my godfather was visiting from out of town for a couple of days. We live in a duplex that my grandfather owns, and at the time nobody lived in the other side of it so he stayed next door. My dad, to commemorate the occasion, hauled over a 27” CRT television (we had only recently stopped using it and switched to flatscreen) and his Super Nintendo.

I stayed up late (for a five year old anyway) playing Super Mario Brothers with my dad, my godfather, and his two kids. I was so excited to finally be able to play this game at home! I repeatedly died at the first Goomba and his nearby friends, but I had a blast. Nothing I had done up to this point was like this. Sure, I had played a little VS SMB in a resort’s arcade room beforehand, but not nearly as much. The music, the graphics, the characters, everything was jaw-dropping to me.

If it weren’t for that day, that game, or that Super Nintendo Entertainment System, I would have lead a very, VERY different life and probably wouldn’t have ended up on Atari.io. Super Mario Brothers, without a fraction of a doubt, of any digital medium has influenced not only my gaming tastes but my entire life up to this point the most.

[The 2020 Retro Game/Junk Box]

25 minutes ago, RickR said:

@HDN, is this a good DS for hacking?

It will work, but you will need a Flashcard for that one. I forget what the one is called that goes in Slot 1. But if you got one, it should be just as compatible (if not more so as you can use DLDI drivers on flash cards) as mine is.

I used a DSi, which has a built-in SD slot. That way I wouldn’t have to spend any money on it.

I will have to see what the card is called. I will get back to you on that. But the short answer is yes, it’s good for hacking, though you’ll need to spend a bit more money on it than if you hacked a Wii or DSi or the like. You need more than just an SD, but not much. You will have fun with it and I can help you out.

[The 2020 Retro Game/Junk Box]

1 hour ago, socrates63 said:

Sorry the loose 2600 cartridges weren't in better shape, Harry. I gave your list of 2600 games to a local gamer, and this is what he came back with. Price was very good though. You can upgrade to better condition ones later and trade or give these away later 🙂

Oh, I’m actually a big fan of beat-up games. I sometimes purposely go out of my way to get the ugly ones, even if there’s no price reduction. You should take a look at my copies of Moon Patrol or Defender.

You should make a wanted list yourself, @socrates63. Who knows, maybe I’ll find one of the items in my travels and could send it your way.

About the below quote (can’t delete and reposition it on my phone):

My dad got a kick out of some of those old trading cards. His quote of the day is as follows:

”[Daryl Strawberry] was almost as good at baseball as he was at doing cocaine.”

1 hour ago, socrates63 said:

I'm glad to have passed on some goodies from the junk box. My eyes are too old for tiny screens and handhelds 🤣 so that Coleco went to you. Since you and I have yet to win a NSG card pack drawing, well, we now have our own 🙃

[The 2020 Retro Game/Junk Box]

WOW!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH @socrates63!!!

You really didn’t have to do this. Thank you so much! This is AMAZING!

Young here has really helped my collection grow! These are all excellent titles! I am especially excited for Adventure (the one with the missing label), which I could never find for a reasonable price at my local store, and Flag Capture, which isn’t terribly expensive but I could never find it at the store.
I am also really excited to play Super Pac-Man! My first 7800 Homebrew. I really enjoy Super Pac-Man, and I am looking forward to seeing what they did with this version. 
And the handheld is very nice too! From watching @nosweargamer’s video a while back it doesn’t look too fun, but I’m glad to have it as a bit of a “movie prop”. The NSG card pack will be interesting to open, and the Creep pin is also really cool. It’s awesome to have these things from YouTubers that I watch regularly.

Pink Gorilla! As a watcher of Metal Jesus, this is also kind of trippy for me to actually have! I’ve heard they’re a pretty good store. Good enough to make hats at least. This is good timing as I can’t seem to find my winter hat anywhere...

I didn’t know there was a Prince of Persia movie! This ornament will be proudly hung on my mini-tree in my room.

And lastly... the item that was in the mystery box! This thing has sat there for a month now, just begging to be opened. Turns out it was CIB Gravitar! Another game I wanted to get. This is my first red-labeled game.

Honestly, Young, I can’t thank you enough! Next year I will have to fully participate in the box now that I have a job. 
Thanks!

[Squad Challenge - Major Havoc (Arcade/MAME)]

I decided to go with none of my options and play the game on my jailbroken DSi on that Atari collection. 60,811 is the best I did so far. I feel I could get much higher with a bit more practice.

[Do you have any pets?]

Oh, have I not introduced my pet yet? Well, here he is. This is Fluff, our betta fish.

See, Fluff works as a name as he’s not fluffy at all.

Bettas are interesting fish. You can actually train them to do things. They’re very unique. Fluff can’t do anything too terribly fancy (so far), but we love him just the same. He will come up to greet you from the bottom of his bowl and look you in the face with his weird (but cute) fish eyes.

[Argon Emulator]

Stupid Apple! This app seems amazing, and I wish I could get it! Oh well.

Thanks for sharing with us! If I ever try it out, I will certainly let you know.

[The 2020 Retro Game/Junk Box]

7 hours ago, socrates63 said:

I love your typed note, by the way -- an actual typewriter 👍  👍 ❤️

That seems to be @chas10e’s trademark. I got one of his nice typewritten letters a while back from him. A very nice touch!

[The Arecibo Observatory is being demolished]

Sad to see this. Astrology is so fascinating to me; we know so little in the grand scheme of things. 
 

33 minutes ago, nosweargamer said:

I bet RickR & Willie could repair it!

I’m placing my bets on @CrossBow!

[My Hacked Nintendo DSi | A childhood dream come true]

I briefly touched upon this topic in a thread I created a few days ago. Let me fill those of you who didn't read it in:

I got my light blue Nintendo DSi at the tail-end of its lifespan, on my eighth birthday in January 2013. I didn't realize this until the other day when I was researching the system, but I had actually gotten mine after they were discontinued. So this puppy one of the last-ever DSi systems.

"Why did I get a DSi?" you might be asking. That's a fair question; the 3DS had been out for almost two years at that point. The reason I got a DSi instead was because I chose it over its successor. The 3DS, from what I had seen at that point, had a gross-looking circle pad and a dinky little D-Pad. That's why. Not terribly smart, but I really don't regret getting a DSi at all. Never did, even back then.

If you know me, you'll know I'm not one for analog sticks. I'll oftentimes take the D-Pad route unless it's a 3D game or something. Younger me hated them even more. I eventually did get a 3DS XL a few years later in 2015, and later a New 3DS XL. I never did stop using my DSi, however, be it for animating with Flipnote Studio or listening to music. 

All three of said DS's have seen better days. The OG 3DS XL hasn't worked in years. That one's legitimately broken. The New 3DS XL, which has probably gotten the most use of the three, has the "X" and "B" buttons broken. They'll work if you'd press down hard enough. As for the DSi, both the "L" and "R" triggers are dysfunctional. "L" probably works once every 50 presses while "R" is more like once every 200. I would like to fix them, but I'm too scared to take my systems apart and accidentally break something. 

Furthermore, many of you knew that I grew up with a hacked Nintendo Wii in the household. I wasted many an hour playing emulated versions of NES and 2600 games in particular. Ever since I got my DSi, I've wanted to find a way to take those games on the go with me. I recently started softmodding some of my Nintendo systems like my Wii U and adding more content to the original Wii, so I thought I would finally make this old dream a reality.

So why did I choose to mod the DSi over the 3DS? 

I chose to do this for multiple reasons. For one, the DSi was indeed the system I used to fantasize being able to do this on, and I kind of wanted some closure, however silly that sounds. The 3DS also had Virtual Console (which blew me away back in the day), and unless you could the Game and Watch games, DSi didn't. The biggest reason, however, is that the DSi had an easily accessible SD card slot. My New 3DS's microSD lies behind the back plate, which is so beat up I'm afraid it won't go back on if I unscrew it.

I highly recommend trying this softmod out. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. I plan to make later posts in this thread as tutorials for anyone wanting to do this.

[The 2020 Retro Game/Junk Box]

3 hours ago, socrates63 said:

And @HDN your box will go out tomorrow when I ship this one back to Rick. Thanks for waiting and sorry for keeping you waiting, but I wanted you to wait as long as I did 😄 That was part of my reasoning for not shipping it to you sooner

Young, don't apologize! This is a very nice thing you're doing here. I don't mind the wait and never really did. I was only kidding when I said this unopened box here was torture! 

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[Squad Challenge - Major Havoc (Arcade/MAME)]

Oh, no, everyone! MAME Wii doesn't like this one!

It's not emulation issues. It's that it doesn't like the game at all. Like, it won't even show up on the menu. I've tried moving everything into a separate folder so it's the only game in the MAME directory, but it still won't show up. I don't understand why. It's not the file type; all of the rest of the MAME files are .zips.

I can't miss out on this challenge. I just love the game so much. So, from what I've seen, I have three options:

1. I can try to download a different ROM for the game off of another site. I'm using the one Justin posted.
2. I can play the game on the Atari Anthology disc on my XBOX. I'm assuming it's the original ROM as all of the others (besides Pong) appear to be the same as their arcade counterparts.
3. I can set up some emulation on my new Raspberry Pi. I'm very frustrated with the thing at the present as it doesn't seem to do anything I want it to. My godfather was correct with his description when he sent it: it's my heaven and hell at the same time. Right now, my main problem is getting composite out on the thing and trying to access the NOOBS menu again. Anyways, I'm getting off track.

Don't worry: though I'm going to be a bit late, I'm going to join! I love this game!

Thanks again @Justin for picking this! This game and Elevator Action are very similar in my eyes. They were both some of my favorites from childhood that I played on XBOX. I've always just used the XBOX for retro compilations, mostly. Nothing else on the platform really sticks. I can enjoy some games, but they aren't really my cup of tea and I don't go back to them often.

[Squad Challenge - Elevator Action (Arcade/MAME)]

Congrats, @socrates63! I was watching you play this and was really surprised. Here I was with 6 or 7 thousand points while you over there were just killing it! How did you do it?

[Two new cool things!]

Yeah, I'm quickly finding out that this isn't as simple as the Wii or DSi. The thing was designed to teach programming and computer skills, so that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure the emulation on this thing is going to be great. It's a very popular device for that. I hope to find an O2 emulator that supports two controllers!

[Your Rarest 2600 Game]

2 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

I decided to recheck AA for my current rarest 2600 games. According to them, I have two rarity 9 games (both loose): Q*berts Qubes & Swordquest Waterworld. 

Is Qubes really that rare?

According to the AA rarity guide, my rarest VCS game is Private Eye. However, I don't agree with that. I've seen a lot more Private Eyes in the wild than Tunnel Runners or Planet Patrols. Not that those are particularly rare, either. 

Perhaps my frequency at which I see Private Eye is just luck? It's not common, but I'd give it a four at most. That rarity guide could use a good update.

[Squad Challenge - Major Havoc (Arcade/MAME)]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

[Two new cool things!]

Hello, everyone! To those who aren't aware: I have fallen down a deep, deep rabbithole of modding my Nintendo systems. I'm assuming y'all know my history with Atari already with my hacked Nintendo (Vader) Wii. I used to emulate those games all the time. Furthermore, some of you might know that I modded my Wii U and added a few emulators to my Wii just last week.

Today, I have two new cool things to talk to you about. Both of them happened yesterday, and while I initially wanted to post about them then, I was just too busy tinkering with them. Let's start with the one I did first:

Ever since I was around eight years old or so, I had wanted a way to play my Atari games on my Nintendo DSi. Well, yesterday that dream became a reality. I used the Memory Pit hack on my DS and got StellaDS to load in Twilight Menu ++. The emulation isn't great; it's a far cry from the Wii even. But I'll take what I can get. The colors are off, the sound can glitch, the screen is shriveled, and I can't seem to flip the difficulty switches, but I'm very happy to have a modded DSi system. A childhood dream come true.

A surprise arrived in the mail as well! It was from my godfather (who I'm trying to get to join the site). This is the dude who hacked my Wii way back in 2011, and he's been guiding me through the process of softmodding my systems. He kindly sent me an assembled Raspberry Pi 4! I have only used one of these once before many years ago, and I don't think it was a 4. He said that it had just sat there gathering dust over at his house, so he just sent it over here. Thanks!

I haven't used the Pi much yet. It's very finicky and I can't seem to know how to get a composite signal. I've tried various methods, but none of them seemed to work. I'll use HDMI for now and see if I can't try again later. I have something I need to try that might help me get a composite signal.

[Your Rarest 2600 Game]

Welcome, @Crash_Corrigan! Front line workers, what a crazy job to have right now. Must be stressful. I hope that you stay safe to not spread it further to anyone! I also hope your symptoms are mild. That virus is an unpredictable creature indeed...

You seem to be quite the collector there, too. I love the generation 2 systems. They’re so interesting. A lot of people my age tend to find the games “too simple”. Hah! Stupid, ignorant children...

But anyways, yeah, I love how unique each system was in the second gen. The O2, Channel F, Studio II; so many unique consoles.

Stick around, old pal. I think you’ll like it here.

[Squad Challenge - Elevator Action (Arcade/MAME)]

3 minutes ago, RickR said:

Exactly my case for 4 Wii's I've come across so far.  They make fine emulation stations. 

 

3 hours ago, MaliciousCarp said:

Thats' awesome!  I did the letterbomb mod on my regular wii because the optical drive went kaput, but I have not modded my WiiU yet.  

You know, I hear a lot about the Wii optical drive failing. I was talking to some of my buddies about the Wii the other day, and a lot of them seemed surprised that mine "still worked". Apparently, this is a pretty common problem, or at least from what I've seen. I think that part of the reason that mine still works is that I've barely used the drive. "Barely" relative to the rest of the time spent on the Wii. That thing has gotten a lot of use.

My dad said when we got it that he didn't think that thing would last 20 years (that's how old his SNES was at the time). We're quickly approaching the halfway mark on that one! So far, so good.

[Attack of the Timelord! - Magnavox Odyssey 2]

 

Attack of the Timelord!
Magnavox Odyssey 2
Difficulty: 1
High Score: 481
October 16, 2020

[Squad Challenge - Elevator Action (Arcade/MAME)]

21 minutes ago, MaliciousCarp said:

I am very interested to see the DSi mod if/when you do it - I have not modded any of my DS consoles, but I would love to get my 3DS "unlocked".  I have been kind of chicken to do it because I actually have a lot of digital games from the 3ds store that I don't want to risk losing

I plan on doing my DSi because 1. The SD on it is easily accessible and regular-sized, 2. You don’t need a Flashcart, and 3. There is very little risk of bricking the system, from what I’ve read at least. 
I’m too chicken to touch my 3DS as well. With the N3DS, the micro SD is underneath the back panel of the system. That thing is super worn out. I’m afraid it won’t go back on. I haven’t tried taking it off since last year when what I just described was very close to actually happening.

I didn’t mod the Wii U part of the system... yet. All I did was mod the vWii part of it. For those who don’t know, the Wii U comes in two parts. There’s the normal Wii U system menu, but there’s also a fully-fledged Wii menu as well. So far, I have only modded the OG Wii part. That thing was completely barren, so no real risks. Plus, I could just reuse the stuff from the original Wii and copy it to a new SD card.

[The No Swear Gamer]

Since I have gotten the new O2 emulator on my Wii and Wii U, I have been playing along with @nosweargamer during Odyssey 2 month. By playing along, I mean checking out some of the games myself. Here are my thoughts on a few that he has reviewed so far:

Pick Axe Pete! Confusing at first, but really fun once you understand what it is you’re supposed to do. I mean, really, really fun. Check this one out, now!

K.C. Munchkin! A really fun maze game. The game offers a ton of different options including a level editor. Great sound design. Very satisfying, fun, and addictive. However, I feel it’s a tad overrated. It’s great, but not as good as some others on the system.

Attack of the Timelord! Probably my favorite O2 game. The game “attacks” all my “time”. I get sucked in, big time. Unfortunately no voice emulation, though that’s expected.

Computer Golf! Only marginally better than Atari golf, which as NSG mentioned came later. I like the little fits the dude throws. It’s aged a bit, but it’s very charming.

Electronic Table Soccer! Is fantastic. It’s so much fun! A real hidden gem on the system. Controls aren’t great, but don’t ruin the game for me.

[Squad Challenge - Elevator Action (Arcade/MAME)]

9 hours ago, socrates63 said:

Great job @HDN for modding your WiiU and getting on the scoreboard.

It is very easy to do on a Wii or Wii U if you would like to! There’s a way to do it that’s easier and more efficient, but I used the LEGO Star Wars “Return of the Jodi” method to mod the vWii mode on the Wii U. It’s so bizarre, almost like a playground rumor. It reminds me a lot of stuff like “L is real 2401”. I’m still really surprised that said rumor turned out to be true after all. A beta build of Super Mario 64 that contained the scrapped Luigi was leaked 24 years and 1 month after the original game’s release. Interesting, huh?

But yeah, you should mod your Wii if you haven’t already. I plan on modding my DSi soon to get Stella on it. Nothing is better than on-the-go Tunnel Tunner! But anyways, a Wii softmod is very easy to do.

[Squad Challenge - Elevator Action (Arcade/MAME)]

Just once, I wanted to break 10,000. But I think 9850 is the best I’m going to get tonight.

A childhood favorite revisited. This game kicked my ass, but I had a blast playing it. I’m also pretty happy about getting MAME finally set up.

I think I’m going to continue playing after this challenge is over. I look foreword to our next one! I’m ready to emulate whatever I face! Unless it’s VIC-20...

This game was played on my newly-modded Wii U system!

[Christmas Decorating Has Started]

As many of you know, I set up my Christmas stuff last week. It was a process, all right! The only Christmas stuff we have set up is in my (Game)Room, not the rest of the house. However, we did help my grandparents set up their outside decorations last Monday.

My sister and I wrote a stupid Christmas story today using the C64 BASIC prompt. It was very stupid. Does anyone know of a good floppy disc C64 word processor?