Sabertooth

Here's a few pictures of our 1952 O'keefe & Merritt stove. O'keefe & Merritt were a Los Angeles based manufacturer and these stoves were fairly popular on the West Coast. They came in a range of models and colors. The cool thing about these is that the design was heavily inspired by the U.S. auto industry of the day with chrome, dials, ornate emblems and the like. This is a larger model. It looks like it has two ovens but the left side is actually something called a "Grillavator." It is a grill like contraption where you raise whatever you are cooking upward to a flame in the ceiling of the compartment. It also come fully featured with a light, outlet, integrated salt & pepper shakers and a griddle (center chrome piece). We've had the stove - which we call "Babz" - for about five years. When we bought our house - a 1920s craftsman - it had an ugly stove that didn't fit the mostly original kitchen. My wife and I had always loved these and thought it would be a good fit. Unfortunately, they are usually either cheap and in bad condition or completely restored and more than a new stove. After some sticker shock at area vintage stops and a few WTF moments with private sellers from Craigslist we were about to give up when, finally, I found our stove on eBay from a local seller. The guy I bought it from was moving to a new build and this old gal wasn't going to fit in an ultra modern kitchen. It had been fully restored just five years prior with the receipts to back it up. After some back and forth, I went to meet him. He delisted it on eBay and we agreed on a very fair price. He even threw in his old white refrigerator, which we also needed. Very few people restore/work on these old stoves. A few years ago we met someone who restores them at a swap meet and kept his card just in case. This week the oven quit heating. When the guy gets here, he took one look at the stove and says "I restored this 10 years ago. Rechrome and porcelain. It's a 1952 model." We talked about how we got it and he said he was glad to see it kept up, in use and in a good home. Anyway, he did a full service, replaced the thermal-coupler for the main oven and checked temperature. It's working again like a charm. Do you have an old stove or oven? Did you grow up with something like it in your home? If so, post it here and share your story.

Entered. It's really cool that you're doing this. Such a neat and fun idea. Thanks!

Dang, sorry I didn't get something in before the bell. Beef Drop is a great homebrew title, especially with Pokey sound. The controls are responsive and it retains the core gameplay and frenetic pace of the original. My one critique is that it is underwhelming graphically. I wish the sprites were a little more colorful and better animated. Other than that, it faithfully replicates the Burgertime experience on the 7800.

The question for today's "12 Days of Jaguar Christmas" contest entry was "what is your favorite jaguar memory?" After typing my answer into the box, I recalled this thread and thought that I would share my (edited) response here too. My favorite Jaguar memories involve playing co-op Raiden with my late cousin, Brian. We loved playing co-op titles going back to Double Dragon, Contra, Ikari Warriors and Battletoads on the NES. This love of co-op carried forward to high school, when I got my original Jaguar. Raiden is a great co-op experience on the Jaguar and we spent a lot of time playing it. In fact, we probably logged more time on Raiden than any other Jaguar game. I can almost feel the imprint of the living room's shag carpeting and gamer thumb when I think about it. Brian was killed in a car accident in 1997 just prior to his 18th birthday. Raiden remains one of my favorite Jaguar games due in large part to the time that we spent playing together. Firing up Raiden today always brings me back to those late nights on the living room floor, repelling alien invaders with my cousin and friend.

Here's a slightly improved score: 29,763.

Thanks, AC! I made a pair of them a couple years back. They are my goto joysticks for anything that uses 2600/7800 compatible sticks. If you're interested, you can see the set in this thread: http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/100-diy-arcade-sticks-for-classic-consoles/

Interesting that the quote came in a response to a question about his favorite systems to code for. Maybe he liked the challenge? The best hardware platforms are always built with the developer in mind. Nintendo products are almost always driven by software goals. Both 3do and most of the PlayStation line were produced with a keen awareness of developer needs. The Atari 3200 was reportedly cancelled do to an unfavorable response from Atari Inc. programmers. In comparison, the Jaguar was hardware focused. The guys at Flare and Atari Corp. were hardware guys. They delivered a platform with great specs that was difficult for programmers to work on. The games would be cool as long as there was enough horsepower - programmers would figure it out. I think one of the reasons Atari focused on the hardware specs so much in Jaguar marketing is that the hardware was the beginning and end of their vision. Had Atari integrated a top-rate software house as part of the design team, maybe they would have launched something with better tools and mitigated some hardware bottlenecks. Unfortunately, Atari Corp.lacked in-house software expertise and didn't have relationships with the great third-party software houses of the day.

@GervGirl, it was me! I thought it was hilarious when I opened your package yesterday. Great minds... It is a very awesome book. My daughter is an artist and we were looking at it together this morning. I love the industrial design section. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

28,241 after about six tries. I'm going to try again later today.

Thanks GervGirl for the Art of Atari and carts! The book is amazing. Happy holidays everyone!

My first car was a blue 1987 Yugo GV. I've always been fascinated by anything quirky and, frankly, it was the only car my 16 year old self could afford working partime after school at Kroger. I picked it up for $400 and sold six months later for $500, under parental pressure to get something "safer." Safer, apparently meant an '84 Ford Tempo with power steering issues. I don't have a picture of my Yugo but it looked like this one:

I do! Some of the best experiences on the 7800 are homebrew. In fact, if it weren't for the constant stream of quality homebrew titles, I don't think I would be a big fan of the platform. It's exciting to see more people getting into it with the release of 7800 BASIC. Good luck with the podcast and count me down as a subscriber!

Cybermorph, along with Raiden and Wolf 3D, was one of my first Jaguar games. My friends and I were thrilled with Cybermorph. We loved the morphing ship, full 3-D exploration and thought Skylar was great. It is definitely an early attempt at 3-D but as BTB says, they had to start somewhere. In '94, it was one of the more interesting and advanced games that I had ever played. About a year later, I picked up Cybermorph's much improved sequel Battlemorph with my Jaguar CD. That game fleshes out and refines the best elements of Cybermorph. A more fully formed game, it keeps the pace with the earliest Saturn and PlayStation games. I still break Cybermorph out from time to time. It hasn't aged that well but there is just something about it. Maybe I come back to it because it's so closely associated with the Jaguar. It is not a killer app but as the pack-in, it is in nearly every retrospective/hit piece done on the console. Along with AvP and Tempest 2000, it's a defining Jaguar title. If you have a Jaguar, it's almost a must have. Some might even call it a rite of passage. Also, kudos to BTB for your comments on the Star Fox comparison. I believe that most of the folks that compare Cybermorph to StarFox have almost certainly never played it. These are the same people that rail against the stock controller.

My wife and I have been watching since the beginning. We have the first two comic compendiums. I'm also a fan of the Telltale games. My wife is not a gamer but she likes watching me play through each episode for the story. I am a few episodes behind this year due to work and school. We're going to catch-up over the holidays. I've tried to stay away from spoilers until we catch up. Negan is really close to the comic representation. The first episode was brutal but essentially right from the page. I'm not sure the villain is resonating with everyone but we have enjoyed it.

I was following this too but it got just a bit too high for me. I'll stick to my Jaguar CD VLM until I can get one for less than $250. A boy can dream!

Two excellent games from Imagic! I also like the tie-in between Atlantis and Cosmic Ark. Its such a subtle touch but it somehow adds depth/mythology to two very simple games. Very cool!

Here's my wishlist, linked: - Art of Atari - Atari 2600 Synth Cart - Road Rash for Sega Saturn: CIB with intact case. - Croc for Sega Saturn: CIB with intact case.

I just saw this on FB. I'm in (under the wire PST). I'll post some wants shortly.

Thanks for posting this @Nicolas and welcome to Atari.io! It's definitely an early build but it shows some potential. Too bad they didn't have the single player implemented here - I don't have anyone else in the house at the moment! But it's been fun to beat up the characters one at a time and try to discover move animations. I posted these pics over at AA but since not all of us are active on both forums I wanted to share them here too.

Great topic, Rick! Many of the 7800 homebrews are just excellent. I'll start with b*nQ, the Ken Siders' 7800 homebrew port of Q*bert. Q*bert is one of those titles that people either love or hate. I happen to love it and, in terms of b*nQ, you'll be hard pressed to find a better playing version on any classic system - certainly not an Atari system. The controls are extremely faithful to the original and very accurate. The thing to remember about both b*nQ and Q*bert on the 2600 is that you must rotate your controller 45 degrees with the button facing the top. This mirrors the configuration of the arcade controller. It's awkward at first, but once you get used to it, you'll find the game is much easier. There is a normal controller mode too, but I always use the 45 degree setting. The graphics are quite nice, with the bright colors and characters of the arcade fairly represented. In between level demos and high score screen are intact. Sound is the one weak spot. Like so many other 7800 games, TIA is the Achilles heel. Q*bert isn't a great sounding game to begin with but in bon*Q they are even harsher. Still, it's a decent approximation of the arcade sounds given the limitations of the system. I would love to see a Pokey version. PROs - Tight control and faithful gameplay - Good graphics - Best version on any Atari system CONs - TIA sound I give it four and three quarters of five stars. Tons of fun and a must have for Q*bert fans!

Excluding homebrew - Best: 1. Food Fight 2. Ballblazer 3. Mario Bros. 4. Donkey Kong Jr. 5. Ninja Golf Worst: 1. Karateka 2. Fight Night 3. Realsports Baseball 4. Super Huey 5. Tomcat F-14 Simulator

Why would you need a cartridge slot with the SD slot? I was on the fence about this but the inclusion of the SD slot put me over. $39 for a portable 2600, I'm in. Why AT Games doesn't include an SD slot on the standard FB is beyond me.