socrates63
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Posts posted by socrates63
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I always enjoyed movie theaters for the immersion and spectacle created by the screen size and sound system (The audience is listening 😊). Having said that, I’ve pretty much stopped going the past couple of years due to rising ticket prices. For movies I really like, I end up buying the 4K or Blu-ray to watch on my 65” 4K TV and surround sound at home anyway, so decided not to go to theaters for the most part. However, I am thinking about going later this month to catch some classic films on the literal big screen. I saw AMC’s announcement a couple of days ago listing old movies like Goonies.
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I had the original GameBoy back in the day. I loved Tetris and Tennis.
I played those games to death and still continue to buy Mario Tennis for whatever Nintendo platform I may own. On a similar vein, I wasn’t thrilled with Castlevania On the GB and ignored the series entirely over time on all platforms while wondering about the hullabaloo surrounding the series (I did buy Castlevania games for all Playstation and Xbox consoles since).
Back in the 90s, I gave away my original GameBoy, accessories and games to a little kid who was moving to Africa with his family. Later, I bought the GameBoy Color and still have it.
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I grew up watching re-runs of so many classic TV shows! Here are some of my favorites.
I Dream of Jeannie
Six Million Dollar Man
Andy Griffith Show
Dukes of Hazzard
Leave It to Beaver
Brady Bunch
Beverly Hillbillies
Gilligan's Island
- nosweargamer, MaximumRD, Rocker67 and 2 others
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That’s great! Is he leaning towards hardware or software? I can’t imagine he will have too much difficulty securing a job in Seattle 🙂
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4 hours ago, RickR said:
Senior year during a pandemic is going to be weird and I feel bad for all kids/people in school during this mess. I'm hoping the job market is good once he's done.
🤞here's hoping for a more stable 2021. What's he studying?
4 hours ago, TrekMD said:Hello and welcome to the I/O!
Thanks, Dr. Trek! Yours is a name I've seen frequently (AA, ZPH streams) and I feel we're already acquainted although we're not 🙂
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I lived a couple of years in Bellevue, NE (suburb of Omaha) and as I was writing that I don't remember the grocery we went to, the name Hinky Dinky pops in my brain -- I haven't thought of that name for decades. The brain is a mysterious thing. In any case, this was in the late 70s.
I lived for six months around Baltimore, MD but don't remember anything.
In Seattle, we mostly went to Lucky (or Lucky's). When we moved the suburbs north of Seattle in the mid-80s, we shopped at Haggen's, a local chain, which eventually gave way to Top Foods. And then there's the ubiquitous Safeway.
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No actual photos but my first car was a 1979 Volvo 264GL in brown. It looked similar to this. One Saturday afternoon, my dad and uncle went out, and a few hours later, they came back with it and said this is your car. I believe I was a few months shy of 17 so that would have been early part of 1986. My immediate reaction was why brown? I had it for 3 or 4 years and it had lot of mechanical issues... fuel pump fuse going out while I'm driving on the freeway and such. That car did a lot to scare me away from used cars ever since.
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On 9/18/2018 at 8:58 PM, Justin said:
This is the event horizon where I crossed over from simple nostalgia into being a classic gamer. It's the difference between nostalgia for the games you grew up with, and forming an appreciation for the games that came before you.
Fantastic essay, Justin. I'm impressed by your recollection and the artifacts that you kept.
This is where I'm at right now -- the last couple of years, I started diving back into Atari because of nostalgia. I collected more than 100 CIB Atari 2600 games before I even had a way to play the cartridges. The last few months, I started playing the games and have developed a bigger appreciation for the games and their cultural significance. Classic Gamer -- I like the sound to that.
- Justin, Gianna and Retro_Club
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I mentioned this in my introduction thread in multiple posts, so I thought that I'd consolidate and share it here as well with some additional editing.
My first "first" Atari memory... The 4-switch VCS (as it was known then) was my first console back in the early 80s. I think I was in 4th or 5th grade when I got it. There was no surprise or Christmas involved. It was purely a business transaction. At the time, my weekly allowance was $3 and the price of the VCS at Toys R Us was $120. I made a proposal to my dad that if he bought me the console, I would forego a year's worth of allowance. "You'd save $36," said I to my dad. A few days later, we went to Toys R Us and bought the VCS, but he kept giving me my weekly allowance 🙂 Thank goodness that he did. Otherwise, I'd have been playing Combat by myself for a year, and that's not much fun for a kid with no brothers or sisters.
The funny thing is until last month, I thought that I had the 6-switch 2600 as a kid. It wasn't until I got a light sixer last month that I realized my mistake. One thing I clearly remembered from my original 2600 was that the joystick plugs stuck up at an angle. When I got my light sixer, the joystick jack was located near the bottom of the back side of the console and not near the top as I remembered it, and the joystick plugs went in at a flat angle.
From the 2600, I moved on to the 800/800XL/130XE/ST and the 80s was all about Atari for me. When the 90s came, I transitioned to the PC (386) and my Atari computers were packed in boxes for storage. For nearly 30 years until 2017, I hadn't seen anything Atari in person -- call it the Dark Ages.
My second "first" Atari memory... My Atari re-connecting got its start three years ago at PRGE 2017. I attended PRGE for the first time because it was the 40th Atari anniversary celebration, and when I found out that David Crane and Garry Kitchen were hosting a panel, I had to go. I was already pumped to meet my childhood heroes, but when I saw a massive booth filled with Atari 8-bit and 2600 setups, I was an emotional mess. I hadn't seen a fully working Atari 800 setup since my own in the 80s. With trembling fingers and butterflies in my stomach, I approach an 800 and -gasp- touched it. When I returned home from that trip, I told my wife that I wished I could have the 800 again. I really didn't think that two years later, I'd have one in my possession. Seeing the white block cursor on the blue screen when I fired up the 800XL brought back a lot of memories. I also got an 800 in the box.
My third "first" Atari memory... In 2020, I've finally been re-united with the 2600. Last year, out of nostalgia, I bought a Retron77, but I never opened the box. I discovered AtariAge earlier this year and got a 7800 four months ago. I recently found out that it has compatibility issues with some homebrews and that prompted me to get a light 6-switch 2600 last month. Two weeks after that, I jumped on a nice deal for a fixed up and upgraded 5200. The past month and a half has been a blast reconnecting with the Atari consoles from my childhood and discovering for the first time so many console games that I passed up because I was busy with my Atari 800. I even picked up a CRT TV recently to complete the full retro setup. The last several weeks have been a whirlwind! And on top of that, I've discovered this community this week.
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Y2K! Has it been twenty years?? It caused some serious anxiety back in the day. I was at Microsoft at the time and we were busy fixing up Windows so the world wouldn't explode on January 1.
I agree that ET's infamy is undeserved.
@nosweargamer you didn't react adversely to seeing a game that didn't remotely resemble its namesake arcade version? I'm guessing that by the time you played it, you already knew what it looked like?
- Justin and Retro_Club
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Here are my 2600/7800 controllers.
From top to bottom...
I've been a Wico joystick fan. I tried many other 3P sticks (Suncom, TAC2 etc.) but my favorite was always the Wico Redball. These two are my Wico sticks from the 80s, what little that's left over from my original 2600/800/ST setup from the 80s. I haven't tried them for 35 years so I don't know whether they still work (EDIT: the Redball worked like a charm and fit like a glove once more). The Redball was my everyday joystick so the chrome is gone from the shaft and the outer sleeve of the cord is damaged. I had a third Wico stick, the one with the interchangeable grip, but I'm not sure where it is.
I have five controllers made by Retrogameboyz (ebay). The first one I bought is the red one and that's my daily joystick. The blue ball joystick is a second one for two players games. The white ball joystick is a 4-way joystick for Pac-Man and the like. I also have the Robotron gamepad for the 7800. Lastly, I custom ordered an all button controller with the Asteroids layout. I got it specifically to play Space Rocks and Star Castle homebrews.
Lastly, I picked up trakballs by Wico and Atari, driving controllers, and two sets of paddle controllers. Of these, I've so far only tried the paddle controllers. The ones inside the box have jitter issues. The ones shown work great without issues.
I also have the Hyperkin Trooper joystick for the Retron77 not pictured here. Both are still in unopened in the box. I may still have my original CX40 somewhere in the house.
- RickR and nosweargamer
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4 hours ago, nosweargamer said:
Welcome @socrates63! That some cool Atari history you got!
Thanks for the welcome and spreading the word about this place! 👍
I'm sure everyone here has an Atari history more interesting 🙂 While all my friends went to the Commodore 64 camp, I stuck with the Atari brand. I mean, it was just natural. Since I loved the 2600, why would I get anything else other than an Atari computer? I did say that I'm a fanboy 🙂 I briefly owned both the C64 and 800, but I returned C64 as I found the hardware to be inferior to the 800.
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1 hour ago, RickR said:
WELCOME! I'm down in Portland, but I have a son that goes to school in Seattle.
Thanks, Rick! Which school is your son attending? My oldest son will be a sophomore at UW Bothell.
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3 hours ago, Justin said:
WELCOME to the forums @socrates63‼️ It's great to have you here, the legendary @nosweargamer has introduced a lot of wonderful people to Atari I/O. Thank you for sharing your Atari history with us, it sounds like the past year has been an adventurous one, it's fantastic that you have access to 2600, 5200 and 7800 now. We have a warm, welcoming community here, everybody is very nice and engaging, like a small town. If you have any questions or need anything feel free to PM me whenever, I'm always around to help. Best wishes!
Thanks, @Justin!
Yes, the past year has been an adventurous one. My Atari re-connecting got its start three years ago at PRGE 2017. I attended PRGE for the first time because it was the 40th Atari anniversary celebration, and when I found out that David Crane and Garry Kitchen were hosting a panel, I had to go. I was already pumped to meet my childhood heroes but when I saw a massive booth filled with Atari 8-bit and 2600 setups, I was an emotional mess. I hadn't seen a fully working Atari 800 setup since my own in the 80s. With trembling fingers and butterflies in my stomach, I approach an 800 and -gasp- touched it. When I returned home from that trip, I told my wife that I'd wish I could have the 800 again. I really didn't think that two years later, I'd have one in my possession. Seeing the white block cursor on the blue screen when I fired up the 800XL brought back a lot of memories.
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I haven’t played enough 2600 games yet to build a top 10. Here’s a list of games I’ve enjoyed so far (not including homebrews) in no particular order:
[*] Beamrider
[*] Stampede
[*] Room of Doom
[*] Freeway
[*] Cosmic Ark
[*] Chopper Command
[*] Demon Attack
[*] Defender
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3 hours ago, nosweargamer said:
Well, as some of y'all know, I keep an ongoing ranking of the 2600 games I review. After 230+ games, here's my current top ten:
1) Adventure
2) Pitfall!
3) Yars' Revenge
4) Ice Hockey
5) Haunted House
6) Ms. Pac-Man
7) River Raid
8 ) Dig Dug
9) Demon Attack
10) Space Invaders
@nosweargamer is your list of game rankings published somewhere?
Fan of your channel and your no swear approach.
- nosweargamer, Justin and TrekMD
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I saved up my allowance for three months to buy the 2600 Pac-Man when it first came out. I think I was in fifth grade. I was extremely disappointed. I was expecting to see something that resembled the arcade version and this was nothing like it at all.
It was going to be another three months before I could save enough money to buy my next game, so like it or not, I played it everyday for three months. I guess I enjoyed playing it as a kid, but that did not erase the day 1 disappointment.
I appreciate 2600 Pac-Man now. It’s only disappointing when I think of it as a port of the arcade game. Clearly it’s not a port given how different it is to the arcade version. Thinking of it as an original game, the game is pretty good and fun.
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Thanks @HDN. Welcome to us newcomers. If nothing else, at least the forum structure here isn’t as daunting as AA.
- nosweargamer and Justin
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Where have you traveled?
in Off Topic
Posted · Edited by socrates63
That's quite the travel log @dauber 👍
I discovered the joy of traveling because of work. I used to work for Amazon as a localization program manager for fulfillment center software. As part of that gig, I had occasion to visit warehouses in parts of Europe and Asia (and US). On one particular trip, I scheduled the trip so that I'd spend the weekend in Paris (coming from Madrid). My previous visit to Paris was during my honeymoon with my wife in 1997 and we followed an itinerary then. This time, I decided not to make an itinerary but chose a general direction from the hotel and simply walked out. It gave me a chance to see how people lived and travel at a slower pace. It changed my perspective and appreciation for what travel can be. By the way, I never knew you could get cramps in your feet but that night I found out that you can.
From that time on, I tried to make cultural immersion the focal point of traveling (we still visit tourist spots and destinations). One way to do that easily has been doing Airbnb. Since that business trip, I've taken the family to Europe (Paris, Rome) and Asia (Korean, Japan), and we stayed in Airbnb. The kids were a little unsettled initially that dad didn't book hotels, but we made it a talking point to see other cultures outside of our little suburban cul-de-sac. They embraced it and appreciated the experience.
So many places to visit in this world of ours! My wife and I are considering getting an RV once the kids are on their own and travel the US.
Before Marriage
After Marriage
One of my personal highlights during family travel 🙂 As a little kid in Korea during most of the 70s, Mazinger Z was my 'bot. I found one in a shop during my family trip to Tokyo two years ago. I think I embarrassed my sons.