socrates63

The first ad that popped into my mind when I read this thread was the ad for Nuclear War by New World Computing. In the backdrop of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war, the game's satire and caricatures of world leaders were a fun appeal (to me). But I can't find a print ad, and I swear I saw them back in the day. As I perused the 1990 issues of Computer Gaming World magazine looking for the ad for Nuclear War, I came across an ad for the Ad Lib sound card. Sound cards were getting very popular, and despite enticing ads like this and reading about how great sound cards were, I had held off on spending the $80-$100 for one. I finally caved when I started playing Wing Commander. After the blips and static like sound effects coming out of the built-in speaker, I took a chance to hear what the fuss was about and ended up buying the Sound Blaster. While the SB was more expensive than the Ad Lib and the Ad Lib enjoyed broader support initially, I recall reading that the SB was the more capable card, so I went with it. The difference in the aural experience was night and day, and my face probably looked similar to the ad here when I first heard the explosions and other sound effects.

Hello Mr. Wumperdinkle Sniy. I thought atari2600land sounded familiar. I looked in my AA inbox and I bought Cellar-y Celery from you three years ago 🙂

Thanks, Justin. I think my $10 will stay in my wallet.

I saw this post today in the Atari 6502 Game Development group on Facebook and came back to this post looking for info on how to buy Frogged. Now I see Jag_Mag is banned and Rick Rotledge who posted in the FB group uses the same avatar as Jag_Mag. Something not legit? Did I miss something?

Today, I watched the first three episodes of the show Alf. I recently bought the DVD collection but haven’t watched it yet. Today, I found it available on YouTube to watch for free.

Change is the only constant, right? The 20+ year run of AA as it has been has come to an end, and I am sad to see it end. My wallet and I have been a strong supporters of the homebrew community. I have been a big fan of Al’s vision to raise the bar on the quality of cartridges and game packaging to make the games as good or better than the games released back in the day. AA and its homebrews played a critical role in getting me back into Atari after so many years. Just as the original run of the Atari consoles came and ended, so an era of the homebrew community powered by AA has come to an end. I have the hardware and the games that will let me still enjoy and celebrate those times. But a new chapter is starting. I will hope for the best and see where it goes. I do applaud Atari for the efforts that it has been making to grow the business, and I hope Atari will reach that point of sustainability. I may not like or agree with what Atari is doing, but I trust the passion and sincerity of those at the helm of Atari. Now we will wait and see what Atari’s ownership of AA means for users and developers alike.

40,995 small improvement but broke 40k!

I've downloaded all the trackball hacked games but haven't gotten around to setting up my Dragonfly. I'm pretty sure I also have the Concerto but need to find it 😂 I agree that the hack shouldn't be sanctioned for this high score challenge. Even without the possible changes outside the controller, using an analog(?) trackball controller is a big change to the gameplay.

It is too bad that this game and others don't support the trackball natively out of the box. Have you tried the 7800 Centipede hack that supports the trackball? Or are you describing the experience of the trackball hack?

Today's mail call -- I got Pac-Man Arcade from AA user tep392. I'm not a huge fan of maze games, but I keep collecting Pac-Man games 😂 It's like with Mario -- I just love the IP and design. I was planning to get For the Love of Spock a while back, and while searching, I ran across this geek documentary compilation. I waited for the price to drop and finally picked it up. I should have gotten Pelé's Soccer ages ago, but finally got around to finding a copy for a reasonable price. I see CIB copies often coming up for over $50 on ebay. When I was a kid, Pelé was the Messi of those days.

38,894 I really like the way the game plays with a joystick. I'm sure a track ball is a better experience, but I don't feel like I'm being hindered by using a joystick.

32,777

21,333 My first time ever playing 7800 Centipede. The joystick control actually felt pretty good. I downloaded the Centipede trak-ball rom a while ago but haven't gotten around to using my Dragonfly yet.

You're totally right about what "Atari" means to people. They're usually thinking the 2600. To add more salt on the Jaguar wound, I had known about the Lynx and had even seen one back in the day. Maybe it was because I had the OG Game Boy that I paid attention to handhelds. I should also add that I only found out about the 7800 a few years ago as well when I was looking to get back into playing 2600 games.

Thanks, Justin! Congratulations, Rick! Venture Reloaded was a very fun game. I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy it at all because, initially, it didn't look like my type of game. @Justin I think there's a typo in the post --> and let's make sure this Challenge continues on! Congratulations once again to Socrates63 for his BIG WIN... That should be RickR and not Socrates63 🙂

The guide touches upon all the pertinent points for a newcomer. Great video @Silver Back. Your 7800 videos have been a great source of 7800 energy. I love your demeanor and speech delivery--very relaxing and yet engaging. I left a comment on the video in YouTube regarding controllers. For those who may not be interested in the official Atari controllers for the 7800, there are affordable and more comfortable options. I have several joysticks and a Robotron gamepad made by retrogameboyz. His products are very good quality and affordable. I have moved up an arcade controller by Edladdin. Ed's work is a definite step up in quality as he's using genuine arcade parts, and consequently, the price is also a significant step up from retrogameboyz prices.

Seeing this tiny 2600 with 10 built-in games reminded me of yours today. It's available on Amazon US$25 🙂

I recently ordered these and they arrived today. As a kid, I had only caught a few episodes of the original Battlestar Galactica from the 70s . Not having grown up with cable TV severely limited my exposure to a lot of sci-fi content. I remember having the Viper toy and playing out many adventures that I made up. I'm pretty sure I've read that outside of the first An American Tail, these aren't very good but for $10, I am willing to give them a shot. Cheap DVDs for the win! Having a nice CRT TV to view them, I no longer hesitate getting DVDs.

Oh wow, that’s cool. I wish I still had my original hardware. I threw mine away many years ago during a house move and have reacquired some (Atari 800, 800XL). Welcome to the I/O

Speaking of cast iron skillet and butter (or substitute with some other oil), that's the best way to "revive" cold pizza. The bottom of the pizza becomes a little crunchy as if it was fresh out of the oven. Sprinkle in a little water and cover the pan to bring heat and melt the cheese. Medium heat probably works best. Yesterday night, we went out for dinner at a local pizza restaurant. The kitchen got our order wrong -- tomato was supposed to go under the cheese and baked, and instead, we got fresh tomato slices on top of the baked pizza. Well, the server said we could have it for free while they remade another pizza as we ordered it. So we walked about with a whole pizza, and that's what I had for lunch and dinner today.

What little I know about the Jaguar is because of the I/O. I didn't know about the Jaguar when it was originally released, and I only learned of its existence a few years ago. I bought one because I wanted to take part in the I/O high score challenge. I sincerely hope the I/O community continues to keep the Jaguar love alive.

Your box and cart match my copy of Stargate -- 1987 Atari Corp. I originally acquired the game without the box, and a friend gave me the game box. I checked and they both were Atari Corp. I was wondering whether my box and cartridge may have been a mix of Corp. and Inc. since I acquired them separately.

When I worked for HBO, the company leased a few floors in a new building in downtown Seattle. I thought the building was telling me I was too fat because I could not get out of my car after I parked. Those parking spots were narrow! I was driving a Toyota Corolla, and I couldn’t open the door far enough to get out from the driver side. After a moment of panic (there wasn’t another spot available in the building), I managed to get out through the passenger side door. The city building code is just wrong as far as the permitted size of parking spaces go. I’m sure Mick says thank you 😛 😆

During the covid pandemic, I had gotten in touch with Joe Decuir and exchanged emails with him. He told me about the Seattle Retro Computing Society (SRCS) and how he usually attends all the meet ups. I found out that SRCS resumed their monthly meeting a few months ago. He promised to sign my Atari stuff if I brought it to him, so two months ago, I attended my first SRCS. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it. I tried again in July, and something else came up last minute, and he didn't make it. This time, I confirmed with him a week ago that he was going to attend. Although I had a wedding to attend in the afternoon, i grabbed my son (who took a class from Joe) and we went to the meeting. When I walked in, the meeting organizer informed me that Joe was waiting for me. I promptly introduced myself, and we spoke for a while. Well, he did most of the talking and told me a bunch of stuff. I'm blown away by his generosity, openness, and eagerness to engage anyone who wants a few minutes of his time. Here's the stuff I brought for him to sign. I think it's super cool that someone of his stature in the history of computing lives in the area and is very active. The fact that he was part of the group that designed the 800 (my first computer love) is what prompted me to seek him out. @RickR I confirmed with Joe that he was willing to meet with us for lunch so come on up next month.

I didn't do an extensive test. IIRC Space Rocks is one that didn't work.