HDN

Merry Christmas!

Nice!

Merry Christmas 🎄

Merry Christmas, Young!

Your assignment is to write an essay comparing CV Donkey Kong vs. 5200 Super Breakout as pack-in games. 

I'm kidding!  No assignments!  Enjoy your time off. 

Well, you can’t break bricks in Donkey Kong! And I don’t recall a cavity variant.

Wiimednafen here actually has several 3D glasses options, including Red/Cyan. You should try loading this up on your broken Wii, Rick. It is crazy good at everything it does. It emulates VB, Game Boy, GBC, GBA, NES, TG16, Lynx, and more, all flawlessly as far as I know. A must-install for any Wii or Wii U.

You got a Virtual Boy, @RickR? You da cool cat 👍😎 I've really enjoyed the 3D in 3DS games.

Yes.  I got one 15 years ago or so.  It's one of my favorite systems.  The 3D effect is really well done, and the graphics are a lot better than I expected.  They also nailed the controller, which is very similar to the Gamecube controller. 

They should have called it "3D Boy" instead of "Virtual Boy".

I like the Colecovision version.  Honestly, it's a fun game on any platform. 

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!

Try "Miner 2049er" next.  If you've never played it, I think you'll love it.  The 2600 version is surprisingly good.  

I’m not the biggest fan of 2049er. I’ll stick with Quick Edward for now.

It's good that your pops is out of the hospital.  I hope he takes his time for a full recovery.  Pamper him a little!

His body finally convinced him that he needs to shut down the dry cleaner, so he's going to have a lot of time to recover 🙂 

Ooof!  That's hard.  To shut down something he's worked so hard to build up.  Ah, but it's time.  The body does not lie.  Blessings to him on a well-earned retirement.  May the good Lord bless him with a long, relaxing, and rewarding retirement. 

I tells ya who needs revenge...the label on my cartridge.  Something rubbed it the wrong way!

Here's my high score for today.

It's available for the 3DS. I'll have to take a look in the e-shop.

I figure the 'gator doesn't like being caught and locked up. So that's where the revenge factor comes in 🙂 

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.

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" 

That’s great, Rick! I like this model much, much better than the purple one.

What GBA Video cart is that?

"Cartoon Network Collection - Special Edition"

Gotta get your Johnny Bravo fix somehow.

Isn't that interesting how that happens? Same thing happens to me, for different games and systems. Thanksgiving and Christmas always puts me in the mood for Cybermorph and F-ZERO. Spring Break makes me crave summertime with California Games on Atari Lynx, especially the Surfing and BMX games. Summer Vacation makes me want to pull out the Sega Master System. I think these times of year correlates to memories of these games, which makes us pull them out and play them every year at that time, which after a while becomes a tradition.

Alright, here's my calendar too, @Justin!

In the early months of the year, I get pretty nostalgic for Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I got it for my 10th birthday in January 2015, and played it constantly. I lost my original copy in Chicago, but have since got another copy. I also get pretty nostalgic for some early NES games, like Donkey Kong and its sequels. That one's recent, but I still look back on it fondly. I remember hearing the story of a mysterious illness in China that had already killed 21 people. And Kobe's passing was the big story!

Later, in March, I get nostalgic for the Atari 2600. This is another recent one. It's funny how I find myself reminiscing so fondly on things that didn't happen that long ago.

I had recently got my new system, one I had wanted to get for years and years. I remember waking up each morning before everyone else, going downstairs in the darkness, and the only source of light was 2600 Donkey Kong's glow from my little CRT, temporarily (now moved and permanently) in our game room. Everything was going so well for me back then. My grades were up, my friends and I were goofing off all the time and having fun, and everything was going alright. And then, in the middle of the month, it all came crashing down. I also think of Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, and 3 during this time, all during different time periods.

During March, I also get nostalgic for Super Metroid, and play it a lot. I remember the first time playing this game so fondly. Not sure if that was in March 2010 or not, but I always get nostalgic for the thing around that time.

April is a fun one. Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color! I remember when I was in 4th grade, and everyone in the class was big into Pokemon. This was the first Pokemon game I ever got, on the 3DS eShop. I later got Red and Gold, and young, pre-middle school me saved up for months to get Pokemon Moon at launch, first time I ever got a game on the day of release. I don't really care for the mainseries Pokemon RPG's anymore, but I can still enjoy the TCG on GBC.

May is all about the album Beatles for Sale. I remember going on vacation for a few days once in May, and I listened to this one constantly. I still think Beatles for Sale is probably the best album that the Beatles released in their first couple years.

I also get nostalgic for Vs. Super Mario Brothers (first video game I ever played) and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters.

June reminds me of Game and Watch and other LCD games. July is all about Super Mario 64 DS.

August reminds me of one of our annual vacations, Blue Harbor. Near this place was the only retro video game store I knew of until late last year. There, I got a few of my games. Buying a retro game was an event back then, as it only happened once a year. I had to pick very wisely. During this time, I get nostalgic for Startropics and Kirby's Pinball Land.

September reminds me of Super Mario Land and Link's Awakening. 

October, shocker, Luigi's Mansion. November, Tunnel Runner, 2600 Pac-Man, and more Luigi's Mansion.

And December... Metroid. However, strangely not so much my beloved Super Metroid. More like Fusion, Zero Mission, Metroid, Metroid II, and Samus Returns. I sadly could never get in to Prime. It's just not my thing. Other M is just trash.

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!

I'm sorry to hear it.  I hope Ron feels better soon. 

No. I meant the Seattle area. Sorry for the confusion.

Congrats!  I spent my very first paycheck on my Mother and got myself a 2600 junior with a few games. Celebrating that first paycheck is expected.  

Congrats!  I spent my very first paycheck on my Mother and got myself a 2600 junior with a few games. Celebrating that first paycheck is expected.  

A bit of advice.  After your first paycheck, whatever you decide to do with it, subtract 20% of your take home pay.  Stick that 20% you subtracted in your pocket, save the rest.  That 20% is to pay yourself and you should always pay yourself first.  If 20% is too much then find another lower percentage that works best for 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? 

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!”

Think I watched a Documentary of this on the History Channel. and heard the song on the radio quite a few times.

Thanks so much!  And a happy birthday to Lee.

It has been an interesting year, but I'm thankful for all the friends here on the Atari.io forums.  

A belated thanks, @HDN and @RickR.

It was pretty uneventful, but I did get some gift cards, so I have a mini shopping spree in my future.