HDN
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Posts posted by HDN
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I've said this before, but most of my retro games were inherited from family members. My 2600 was from my dad's cousin, my NES was from my uncle, and the rest were ones my dad used to have. So I guess it's been nearly 40 years, but all were collected separately and then combined.
My games are currently two hours away. I don't think they'll be coming today, but I can wait.
- RickR and socrates63
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1 hour ago, socrates63 said:
I've only had my Atari consoles for a few months. The pace of my purchases to add games to my library has far exceeded my ability to play them, and that's been true for any gaming platform that I've gotten games for 🙂
As far as how many games have I actually played? Less than 5% but that's what retirement is for 🙂 But in all seriousness, I may pare down my games collection as my collection is pretty large. Earlier this week, I removed all my Playstation Vita and GameCube games from the shelf to make room for my Atari games. I mentioned this in another thread, but this is part of my thinking around evaluating my collection and keeping those that mean the most to me (mainly for space considerations).
Having enough games where space becomes a problem for me is like my dream. My collection isn't nearly as large as most of yours, only about 230~ish items in it. Like I've said previously, it's been being built up in separate chunks since 1981 or so. I'm really quite proud of it so far. Last week I finally took the time and cataloged it using pricecharting.com. When I have disposable income I would like to invest in some obscure consoles like the Channel F and Bally Astrocade, as well as get some vintage computers. I have wanted to learn BASIC since I first discovered The 8-Bit Guy a few years ago.
My 7800 collecting and game collecting as a whole will be paused for the moment after I get these games. For Christmas I hope to get some games as well. Mainly BallBlazer, Pilotwings, and 7800 Mario Brothers. I also hope to get some more retro gaming shirts and things. Not many people my age you see wanting Atari 7800 games for the holidays.
- RickR and socrates63
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5 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:
There are also some titles on the far right I can't make out (long names) under Dig Dug and under Xevious.
Realsports Baseball and Touchdown Football.
8 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:@HDN You do realize that the 7800 was the only Atari to get Galaga? And, for what it is worth, it is a fun game. I especially enjoy the sound effects personally. And don't let that slowness fool you...that game gets crazy fast I believe at Round 10. I am not a fan of Galaga but I enjoy the 7800 version.
Yes, I do realize that, and that's pretty cool. I'm not hating on the game, but I just think it looks a little strange compared to the arcade and NES releases. I will no doubt enjoy it and play a lot of it. The imperfections give me a reason to return to this specific version. Fellow Galaxian fan here.
10 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:And I was just looking at that photo of the 7800 games at the store and noticed something...there's a silver label PPII there. I've never seen those.
Yeah, they do have that. I also saw a CIB Pole Position II there once.
7 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:I'd grab the colored one of Choplifter. It's what I have and I've not found a bug yet.
I don't know if that's the buggy 1987 version or the fixed 1988 version. I have the 1988 system, the one most affected by the bug. That cart was $5.
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2 hours ago, socrates63 said:
I haven't played 7800 Food Fight yet
That is surprising given how much everyone loves it. How many of your games do you actually play?
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For those of you who don't have time to watch this video or are looking for a specific game's ranking and don't want to watch the whole video again, I have compiled @nosweargamer's rankings in list form here, from highest to lowest ranked:
- BallBlazer
- Food Fight
- Ninja Golf
- Ikari Warriors
- Commando
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Alien Brigade
- Xevious
- Dig Dug
- Midnight Mutants
- Xenophobe
- Donkey Kong Junior
- Tomcat F-14
- Desert Falcon
- Galaga
- Joust
- Mario Brothers
- Mean 18 Ultimate Golf
- Donkey Kong
- Centipede
- Crossbow
- Winter Games
- One-on-One Basketball
- Rampage
- Planet Smashers
- Asteroids
- Pete Rose Baseball
- Basketbrawl
- Motor Psycho
- Super Skateboardin'
- Double Dragon
- Super Huey
- Kung Fu Master
- Impossible Mission (Broken US version)
- Robotron 2084
- Fatal Run
- Ace of Aces
- F-18 Hornet
- Dark Chambers
- Choplifter!
- Pole Position II
- Scrapyard Dog
- Summer Games
- Tank Command
- Water Ski
- Karateka
- Crack'ed
- Hat Trick
- Tower Toppler
- Barnyard Blaster
- Jinks
- Sentinel
- Fight Night
- Mat Mania Challenge
- Meltdown
- Realsports Baseball
- Touchdown Football
- Title Match Pro Wrestling
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I'm guessing that my new games will arrive tomorrow given how fast they are traveling. Maybe Thursday (that's what the link says), but I'm guessing they'll actually arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon. The shipping day estimate was way off last time.
I'm quite excited, even though I don't have my ProSystem back yet. I'm asking all of you here at the I/O: What are your opinions on Galaga, Xevious, and Food Fight on Atari 7800?
- RickR and socrates63
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Yeah, I forgot about racing games as sports. Indy 500 and Night Driver are my favorites on the system, and I prefer ND to Indy.
Dragster is pretty fun too, and Pole Position is also great (if not eclipsed by the sequel). I also enjoy Activision Grand Prix though that's mostly nostalgia.
I haven't played much Enduro but I remember enjoying it.
Street Racer is fun, but not for the street racing part of it. I much prefer the other variations, like Number Cruncher.
- Mr SQL and socrates63
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7 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:
One title I would consider a sports game, albeit not of the general sports games, would be Star Wars Jedi Arena. Why? Because it's like a fancy Pong style game. I mean, it's played with Paddles and it is like Pong just turned on its side. It's somewhat of a sports game. At least in my eyes it is.
It's a sports game in the same way BallBlazer is a sports game. It's not a real Earth sport, but I would still consider it a sports game.
I think the sports games are good, but watching any sport other than Baseball is painful for me. I don't follow sports, but if a Baseball game is on I might watch it. My grandfather, my sister and I used to go to a lot of the minor league games the last few years before COVID. I miss that.
Shame you don't have Video Olympics. It's a really fun game, and one you can't emulate well because of the lack of paddle controllers. My text label copy gets a lot of use for multiplayer gaming. Or at least it got a lot of use. I really miss my
.
- RickR and socrates63
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I don't understand you two and your love of Golf. I never used to understand the swinging mechanism until my dad and I played it a few months ago (he grew up with Computer Golf! on Odyssey 2 which was completely ripped off by Atari for the 2600 game). Now that I understand it, it's more fun but it's still not great. I much prefer Miniature Golf. You ought to give that game a try. It controls much, much better. Plays a bit like Billiards.
I'd pick OG 2600 Football over Madden any day. Bowling is quite fun as well. I have the former but not the latter. I remember going to bed and my dad and his friends were playing Bowling. Pretty fun.
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@RickR some good games in there! Ice Hockey was never one I much cared for; I much prefer the version that is part of Video Olympics. RS Volleyball and Basketball are really fun, too. I have played Pele's Soccer before years ago, like 2012 or so, and don't remember it much. If I remember correctly, the players are just squares in a top-down perspective? That one's real cheap; I'll have to pick it up someday.
And to answer your question, yes, to my knowlege that was the first 3D-esque Basketball game. Odyssey 2 Basketball! was the same year, I believe, and it doesn't look very good. 2600 B-Ball is great, and it's one of the few 2600 games my sister will play with me. When I played One-on-One for the first time, I was instantly reminded of this game.
- socrates63 and RickR
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"2600 sports games" is a broad term to say the least. The system lived for so long, so the difference between early and late sports titles is night and day.
I'm not a big sports guy, so I like it when they keep games simple. I prefer the early games, but some later ones like RS Volleyball are really good. I especially like Video Olympics, Home Run, and Miniature Golf on the system.
What do you think?
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I cracked this bad boy out again today. This was actually the first retro gaming item I got CIB. It's quite a fun game and has lots of variety, more so than many 2600 games. Game play reminds me a lot of Solaris on 2600, though simplified a tad.
I did a bit more research on this unit. The Radio Shack version (AstroThunder, the one I have) was released in 1986. However, that wasn't the first time the world was blessed with this game. Grandstand, a UK and New Zealand based electronics company, released FireFox F-7, a near identical game, all the way back in 1983. Aside from the design printed on the tabletop, the two units are indistinguishable. Grandstand was known mostly for its Pong consoles and other tabletops, like Caveman, though they did release a pretty nifty Channel F clone.
So yeah, AstroThunder and Firefox F-7. It's nice to know that both Travis Scott and Mozilla both had 1980's VFD games.
This is the Radio Shack version, however. My original post here is painfully lacking in description, so I will try to fill you in. Earth is under attack by alien invaders and you have been sent to destroy their base before they invade our planet. You're mission is to destroy the Gond--I mean, the enemy power base. You do this by infiltrating the City of Myst--er, the enemy base. If you couldn't already tell, it's a lot like a third person Vanguard mixed with elements from Galaga, Solaris, and the Star Wars trench run. It even has the Vanguard/Flash Gordon music in it! There are six phases to the game.
- You're in a trench shooting enemy spacecraft (which the manual stupidly refers to as "planes")
- Ah! Magnetic storm! Don't try to touch the magnetic field, or you'll lose energy. Shoot the fleeing enemy "planes". In order to hit something, you'll have to line it up with you're sights, which you can see above you're health and score bars
- This phase is just a standard shoot-out featuring some plagiarized Star Wars music. What it lacks in theme it makes up for in a steep difficulty spike. Watch out! You must shoot over 8 "planes" within 70 seconds or you'll have to repeat the level. But beware--they can shoot back! I should mention that all these stages last about a minute, give or take.
- You approach the enemy base and view the world's shortest cutscene. Aside from the background and the enemy patterns being a little different, it's the same as the last phase.
- You enter the enemy base and fly through another trench! The planes are very aggressive and the walls will quickly drain your energy if you come in contact with them. Later in the level, the walls get narrower.
- Finally, you made it to the enemy power base. Destroy this thing, and earth is safe for the time being. But the alien invaders have one last trick up their sleeve: they've outfitted the power base with a deadly, zig-zagging laser gun! You only have a few seconds to land eight hits on the power terminal. Destroy it and KABOOM! The alien base is destroyed and Earth is safe! You can get bonus fuel if you destroy it soon enough.
You can also shift into high or low gear. Higher the gear, higher the points per enemy shot. You have a select amount of fuel in the game and no lives. Run out of fuel by taking damage, you're game is over. The digit on the left of the screen represents your score in units of 100, the digit on the right is your score in units of 10. The awkward bar on the left is your score in units of 1. Some interesting things about the system include its stereo sound (you can silence either channel if you so wish) and almost 3D screen filter.
Upon watching @Willie!'s video, I learned a bit more about the game. Apparently there were many more variations of the unit I was unaware of. I'll link it here.
Like many vintage VFD games, AstroThunder is a C-cell battery hog, though you do have the option of using a 6 volt AC Adapter. The manual recommends using one from Radio Shack themselves, though I did find a plug in the basement that fit the jack and was the proper voltage. The system got power, but only sound effects played with a blank screen. No worries, though; I did happen to have some C batteries on hand just for this purpose.
If you ever come across AstroThunder or one of its 89 variants, do try to check it out! It's a really fun game.
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Can't buy at the moment, but I'm just wondering: how does that thing play? It seems like it would be fun if the booster grip was secured to the joystick, but the way it is the grip looks like it would just slide off too easily.
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It's that spooky time of year again. The leaves are changing, the weather is colder, and Halloween is fast approaching. And you know what that means: Luigi's Mansion and spooky stories.
What were some of the creepiest things you have experienced yourself? Not nessicarily paranormal ones, but those are very much welcome too.
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How very nice of him! I'm interested in what Video Easel is like. And those glasses are very cool, too!
You're going to like that Ms. Pac-Man Plug 'n' Play. It has a nice version of Pole Position on it where you twist the stick like a steering wheel. I'm very nostalgic for that thing. I played lots of Xevious and Mappy on that thing in a kid's playroom at a car dealership when I was younger. That was when my parents were trading in their old car.
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5 hours ago, Sabertooth said:
They really should have a way to kill yourself if you get stuck. I also also hit Select and was returned to the start screen. You can restart the level but lose your score.
If you didn't notice already, there is a fireball in the game like in Mario Brothers. Wait a while and it will come and kill you. Life lost, but score kept.
I got past level 9. I didn't get that much bigger of a score as I didn't do as well on the earlier levels as I did that one time.
Having fun. Good choice @Justin.
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Hopefully my daily post limit isn't going to be reached with all of the posts I'm making here today.
82,200. Better than last time, but I can go farther I feel. I just need to get a handle on Phase 9. I need to come up with a good strategy. That quickly drained all of my lives from last run, too. Once I get past it, I can go much farther. I might just practice on that difficulty level for a while.
Edit: 108,100. Third attempt. Still dead at level 9.
- RickR, Justin and James Campbell Jr.
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20 minutes ago, Justin said:
When was their Atari branded system shown?
Nevermind, I got my facts wrong! Silly me, this isn't the Atari system, I don't think at least. The Nintendo Advance Video System was shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in early 1984. It was just a Famicom, really, but it looked more like a computer. I believe a keyboard was a thing in Japan for the Famicom. Has the Nintendo logo on it, so not Atari.
Here's a Jeremy Parish video for anyone interested in this topic. He explains it much better than I. By the way, he's starting to cover some Lynx and 7800 games as well. Might want to check those out.
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Did you know? In Japan, the Famicom had a tape drive sold seperately. This allowed you to save your level creations in games like Lode Runner, Excitebike, and yes, Wrecking Crew. That's why you see save and load features in these games. Nintendo planned to release the tape drive here (and it was even shown alongside their Atari branded system) but ultimately didn't. Battery saves may have killed it off, or perhaps it was just not worth the risk in the US as it only supported a handful of titles.
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Here's the first score. Not great; I'm a bit rustier than I thought I was. Just need some NES WD-40 and I'll be able to go pretty far. I'm tired. It's been a long day. More time and energy tomorrow for Wrecking Crew. Played on my school-issued Chromebook.
Oh, and I forgot to say this last time in Galaxian, but Hey, @btbfilms76! Enter me to win!
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9 minutes ago, Justin said:
We'll be playing an excellent game for the Atari 2600
Fingers crossed!
I love Wrecking Crew! My friends and I used to play this one all the time in the school. There was an online NES emulator that wasn't blocked by the school's network that we wasted loads of time on. My buddy Nick and I were the official ROM dealers. Wrecking Crew was always a popular one, along with Kung Fu. But nothing compared to our high school's Yo! Noid craze back in January and February.
I'm hyped to play this game. I don't have my stuff back yet, but I can use the aforementioned online JS emulator. It worked very well from what I remember.
- Justin and Sabertooth
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WOW. The ending of that longplay is incredibly creepy. I can imagine my sister and I loosing our crap if I got there when we first played the game in the basement that Thanksgiving. That's almost intentionally terrifying. I've never seen a game crash like that before. It reminds me of those "every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized" videos that were popular from earlier this year. If you haven't heard of them, they were intentionally spooky videos about the Mario 64 '95 beta build. Like video creepypastas. Lots involved the "Wario apparition". The videos weren't really that scary because they were trying too hard to be. But if I was playing this game late at night in the dark when I was maybe 11 and got this far, yeesh. I would've waken up the whole house with my baby screams. I don't take spooks well even now!
Thanks for sharing with us, @Scott Stilphen. I had heard about the crashing glitch before but never seen it in action. I have seen that commercial before, but not the rest. I will check those bad boys out later.
Oh, and before I forget, here's one of those "spooky" Mario 64 videos. They tried way too hard and it's very fake. But Tunnel Runner, that game doesn't mess around! That game is the real deal!
Oh, Mario's old voice.
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1 hour ago, socrates63 said:
On the Xbox One, 99% of my time has been spent playing Halo Reach, a 360 game, and I finished Black (OG Xbox game) and Halo 4 (360 game) on the Xbox One. I still haven't played Halo 5 and I consider myself a Halo fan
I have Halo: Combat Evolved on the OG XBOX. I could never get into it. Partially because I'm not a big fan of FPS's (sadly why I can't get into Metroid Prime) and partially because the disc keeps skipping. I haven't played much of the XBOX excepting retro game compilations.
1 hour ago, socrates63 said:PS4 and Xbox One have mostly been acting as streaming devices.
Welcome to the Wii U circa 2017.
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37 minutes ago, socrates63 said:
For me, this has been key to my enjoyment of the games from the 80s. Not only are they fun, they are easy to learn and easy to jump in/out and pick up again.
I'll have to noodle on this a bit more, but I'm not sure that if I'll go back to modern games as my main gaming go-to. I haven't played any for the past several months. If nothing else, I may put the games in boxes or totes and make more shelf room for stuff that I actually play.
Both are fun in my opinion but for different reasons. I don't play any modern games besides Nintendo (mostly their own IP's), so no CoD or Halo or GTA or anything here.
My sister really hates Atari 2600 games because of their simplicity. Like you said, Young, I think that simplicity works to their benefit. Having to go for a high score is fun. Plus, they make great multiplayer games that you can play with anyone, not just people used to modern gaming. I can play them with my grandfather or mom or anyone. People who aren't gamers can still have fun with old arcade-style games. You can't really play the modern stuff with them and have as fun an experience.
- MaximumRD, socrates63 and RickR
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Harry's Adventures in 7800 Collecting
in Atari 7800
Posted
LD's are really cool. Will I ever collect them? Probably not as I'm not a movie guy particularly. If I want to watch a movie I'll just use Netflix or something. But I would like to get a couple LD's someday. They're so cool. They're the vinyl records of film.
By the way, my package is now only about an hour away! The site takes a while to update. I hope I can get my 7800 back before tomorrow to play them.