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socrates63

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  1. The Atari.io collective 2600 joystick collection

    in Atari 2600

    Posted · Edited by socrates63

    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.

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  3. Hello from Bothell, WA

    in Introduce Yourself!

    Posted

    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.

  5. Hello from Bothell, WA

    in Introduce Yourself!

    Posted

    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.

  7. What are your top ten Atari 2600 games?

    in Atari 2600

    Posted

    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. 

  8. Did you think Atari 2600 Pac-Man was bad when you first got it?

    in Atari 2600

    Posted

    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. 

  10. Hello from Bothell, WA

    in Introduce Yourself!

    Posted

    Hello, everyone. I've come here via @nosweargamer's August give-away video. It's great to learn of another vibrant Atari community! I live in the suburb of Seattle with my two sons and wife. I've worked my entire career in the tech industry (Microsoft --> Amazon --> HBO / WarnerMedia) as a program manager.

    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. 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.

    In middle school, I fell in love with computers. I hung around the computer lab for a year as a sixth grader since programming class and access to computers (Commodore PET) were only open to seventh and eighth graders. I got an Atari 800 with the cassette drive in seventh grade and for several years until I got the 520ST, the Atari 8-bit was my BFF. I can't remember what happened to my VCS.

    Fast forward almost 40 years to 2020, and I've 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.

    In case you're wondering, last year I picked up an Atari 800 and 800XL. I also got the devices to load programs from SD card but I haven't set them up yet. After storing them in boxes for many years, I threw away all my Atari computers, peripherals, and software when we moved nearly 20 years ago. Let's not talk about it.

    This is my Atari story. I don't know much, but I'm a gamer at heart (although I suck at most games) and a life long Atari fanboy. I'm glad to be here and look forward to get to know the community better. Thanks for reading.

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