socrates63

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

@RickR while I'm on the software side of things, if your son needs help with job searching or wants to talk to someone in Seattle high tech, feel free to hit me up.

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 🙂

Cool! I didn't even know that the 7800 had paddles specifically for it. Subbed. Now on to the high score challenges... as soon as I find them...

🤞here's hoping for a more stable 2021. What's he studying? 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 🙂

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.

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.

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.

I never considered the color of the game before, but looking at that video of the Nukey Shay hack, it really changes the perception of the game. Different maze and sound but the colors really evoke the sense of the arcade Pac-Man 👍

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.

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?

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.

That's my alma mater! Great school. I studied biology and philosophy.

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.

Thanks, Rick! Which school is your son attending? My oldest son will be a sophomore at UW Bothell.

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.

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

@nosweargamer is your list of game rankings published somewhere? Fan of your channel and your no swear approach.

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.

Thanks @HDN. Welcome to us newcomers. If nothing else, at least the forum structure here isn’t as daunting as AA.

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.

Last 2600 physical cartridge played --> Demon Attack