RickR

WOW!

The guy in this video -- Duc Dang -- is a friend of mine and he's been tutoring me on all things Centipede for the past couple of years.

Strategies he's shared with me that I use (including on the 7800):

- "Tunnel down the middle" -- that is, fire from the home position repeatedly so that when you hit the centipede, mushrooms form on either side, eventually building a tunnel that will guide the centipede straight down (useful mainly on levels when the centipede is fully or mostly intact), making it easy to blast the centipede away. Shoot away mushrooms that form in the middle. (On the arcade version, shoot toward the thousands digit of the high score; hundreds digit of the high score on the 7800 version.) It might help you to leave one piece of the centipede alone while you clear away some mushrooms on the bottom of the screen, then clear away the final piece of centipede.

- Focus on the bottom third of the screen. (Easier said than done.   )
 
- Be careful with mushrooms on the sides on the lower portion, especially if there's a single-space gap between a mushroom and the left or right border. Blast away those stray mushrooms.
 
- Use mushrooms as aiming devices, especially ones that are only a small handful of rows above you. When a centipede piece passes under the mushroom, shoot that piece of centipede.
 
- Break the habit of constantly holding down the fire button, as you can have only one arrow (remember, your player is an elf shooting arrows   ) on the screen at a time. If you're constantly holding down the fire button and suddenly a spider comes straight for you, it's impossible to shoot most of the time because there's already an arrow on the screen.

 
(BTW, the video is out of date; Duc recently broke 800k. Heh...he doesn't consider it a good game unless he gets at least 500k!)

This is the version I played the most of.  The PS1 controller worked so well for it, and I was able to chew up the content.

Do we have any other fans of the PS1 version of Doom?  I think that version is just about awesome. 

That thing between the computer and boom box was an external CD-ROM drive.  It was so slow!  It ended up being used in my audio system after "King's Quest 5" and "Rebel Assault" made it go crying home to mama.  Just way too slow to do those two games. 
 
I think this PC was a 386-sx. 

I think I've posted this pic before...but here's the very computer I used for Doom...from 1991.  I had the sound card hooked up to a boom box, and it cranked!  And that wall behind is the adjoining wall to to my neighbor's house!  CRANK IT UP!

Do we have any other fans of the PS1 version of Doom?  I think that version is just about awesome. 

No music, but crank the game sound WAY UP.  Doom had such great sounds.  Back in the day, I lived in a duplex, and my neighbors would get pretty upset when I was playing Doom (PC version though)!   Sorry, neighborinos. 

WOW!

Looks to me like they put this together with MTV, who probably came up with the crazy bread theme. 

1963 Dodge Dart GT but there was nothing GT about it. HAHAHA 
225 Slant 6 push button auto!!!!

Got mine this morning. Video to come soon!!!!!!!!
 

No music, but crank the game sound WAY UP.  Doom had such great sounds.  Back in the day, I lived in a duplex, and my neighbors would get pretty upset when I was playing Doom (PC version though)!   Sorry, neighborinos. 

Looks to me like they put this together with MTV, who probably came up with the crazy bread theme. 

No music, but crank the game sound WAY UP.  Doom had such great sounds.  Back in the day, I lived in a duplex, and my neighbors would get pretty upset when I was playing Doom (PC version though)!   Sorry, neighborinos. 

Did you call the Atari 1-900 phone number in 1984? I've heard very little about the Atari 1-900 number. I had always thought it was the Atari equivalent to the Nintendo Powerline that you would call for hints and tips. Now that I think about it though, that doesn't make much sense. Unlike the games NES players called the Nintendo Powerline for, most popular games available on Atari, particularly the 2600, didn't play like NES games. There weren't too many warps, hidden power ups, or "secrets to get to the next level".
 
So what exactly was the Atari 1-900 phone number? Well, possibly an enticement to order a "free" MTV jacket. There's a post about this over at The Retroist website. Check out the 1-900 commercial below:
 
 

We have an amazing group of folks here Justin. Great leadership too. Everyone just keep doing what you're doing.
 
It has been my experience that in our hobby most community's come with trolls and negativity. However here at the IO the love is strong! Giving a small gift only scratches the surface of how kind and giving this community is. At least for me personally, I have felt its amazing effects. I'm glad to be here and better for it in many ways.
 
Cheers yo!

I'm just glad he wasn't disappointed that there wasn't a vacuum cleaner. 

The level of generosity being shown here is astonishing. We have an amazing community and none of this should surprise me. Secret Santa has always been about paying it forward and making a Christmas wish come true for somebody else. That's being done here in spades.
 
I've gotten to know a lot of you guys personally. Many of us have had things happen in life that get in the way of enjoying our love of classic gaming to its fullest.
 
Even the most hard working and gainfully employed among us may be in a situation this year where they've put their family before themselves. They make sure their spouse and children get to see their Christmas wishes come true. For some in our community that means their Secret Santa presents may be the only presents they get to open this Christmas.
 
These sorts of things aren't often posted publicly. The amount of generosity being shown here can really affect somebody in ways you could never imagine.

Here's my first car...1992 Chevy Corsica LT. No-frills car, just pretty basic...although I did upgrade the AM/FM radio to AM/FM/cassette, like, the day after I got it in 1997.
 
Picture must have been taken in 1998. I had just bought a Kodak DC-25, featuring a high resolution of...640 x 480. I got that camera because it was Amiga-compatible. I carried that camera everywhere. This picture was taken in the parking lot of Sharp Electronics in Romeoville, Illinois, where I worked at the time. I took a picture because in that huge parking lot, it was a rare day you'd get a parking space so close to the entrance; I needed to capture the moment for posterity! The bumper stickers are from The Kat 105.5, the radio station where I was a weekend disc jockey.
 
Had the car until I traded it in for a brand new 2002 Saturn SL2.
 

I'm just glad he wasn't disappointed that there wasn't a vacuum cleaner. 

Thanks Justin for the totally awesome gifts!