Atari 5200 Guy

Oh...a 5200? That is all you needed LOL.

Oh man! A clean slate. Let's see...this goes here and that there. Hang this here...

Thank you very much!! Just what I was looking for.

Maybe I out to have my car painted black with Pac-Man's maze, ghosts, and Paccy himself layered on that. Covering the whole car. That would be cool.

I would appreciate that very much. Thanks Rick.

I was doing research for my YouTube videos but can not find what I am looking for. I am searching for the Arkies from a 1984 issue of Electronic Gaming Magazine. I checked the Archives but did not see that issue. Does any one here have that issue they can photocopy for me? I just need the pages of the awards. Thanks in advance.

I like Crossbow's idea. It would be much easier to work with. The use of Atari Day in the title was to help sink in the release date of episodes. Which brings me to why I am here. Due to equipment failure and trying to dig up more research for the first episode I was unable to meet April's deadline. So, I am going to simply say a Summer release. I have a few segments done but not everything was completed. Sorry for letting you guys down. I have Photoshop and have tried Paint.NET and GIMP. All are good programs. I am having a hard time visualizing how I want the name to look. If others want to help with rough drafts done with pencil and paper it would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to go with Kamakazi's Monthly Extravaganza. I like it!

If he was wouldn't there be a record of it online somewhere? Like Wikipedia or something? What about those TG cards? If one was made on Billy wouldn't it say what all he did?

Stuff is still coming out. You can still get Pac-Man plushies. A NAMCO claw machine I seen on YouTube was full of character plushies from various Pac-Man games.

I believe Atari tried get games on the 5200 to act more like their arcade cousins because the system was suppose to be an at-home arcade machine. When you have a 5200 that works as intended it is a hard system to beat. The 2600 does have great ports of Ms and Jr Pac-Man. The Super Pac-Man prototype found for the 5200 is really spot on and should have been released.

Just discovered this and I want it! Simply wow. I knew the 5200 was capable of doing more.

Ummm...link please? Space Invaders on the 5200 is also the only one to have aliens that morph. A first.

I have Pac-Man for the A8. Good game but is missing the intermissions and ghost AI is so-so. You kinda miss those things when you are use to them being there and the ghost AI on the 5200 is closer to the arcade.

Man...you just had to do that didn't you? Lol.

Well...I can't say anything about this but agree that if he was legit then go live feed and play on real hardware. So, Billy, get yourself a live feed account either on YouTube, Twitch, or other well-known provider and play the arcade again while others watch. That would be my suggestion.

Pac-Man Fever is very real my friend. The song by the same name was not telling lies. Need an example? Here...listen and remember. https://youtu.be/0-MONIvP6kI Pac-Man was, and remains, the most iconic video game of all time. There is something mesmerizing about running around a maze, gobbling up dots, and eating ghosts. It is a formula that never gets old. There have been imitations but there is only one Pac-Man. It was my most played game on the 5200 once it arrived on the doorstep thanks to UPS. I still play it today but play Ms. Pac-Man on the 5200 and 7800, and I play those plus Jr. Pac-Man on the XEGS. I have those for the 2600 as well with Jr being my top played game. I play them at least every other night. So, yea, the fever is real and once you have it there really is no known cure other than to play the game. Sometimes that doesn't help either.

My Lynx II appears to be void of lines but does seem a bit faded. Then again I always thought they did. I have Batman Returns. Fun game but very tough. It looks like a Genesis game. Just so I know what is bad about Hard Drivin'? I loved the arcade.

I'm going through a similar thing now with Space Shuttle on the 2600. It's not that I don't like the game. On the contrary I find it amazing that so much was crammed inside a 2600 cartridge and done on a machine that had a lot less memory than the space shuttle it was based off of. What is frustrating is how accurate everything has to be in order to succeed. If you are off just a tiny bit it really throws the game off balance. And I keep hitting the wrong console switches to activate/deactivate shuttle functions and that only makes matters worse. I'm sure once I get the hang of it more it will most likely become one of my favorites. It's so danged technical and touchy that it is has a rather large learning curve.

I tried doing the micro switch and I didn't do it right so I ended up with sloppy joystick movement. I cut too much off the yoke that contacts the switches. That's why I posted this just in case someone tried to do the same thing and made the same mistake they could get one of these instead of butchering another joystick. If you don't want to go that route Best Electronics does carry replacement internals with gold contact upgrades. I have a set for my 7800 joystick and it really made a difference. The same technology was used for the CX-40 style joysticks. As for the fire button. I have had one joystick where the fire button had been used so much that it wore the small peg under the button down. I am guessing that's why they included a fire button. Still nice to see that someone is making those.

If you can find them, the Amiga joysticks are rather comfortable and work well. I only have three games for mine. Parsec (which has voice through the voice attachment), Burgertime, and Treasure Island. Parsec is considered one of the better games on the system. If you like Space Invaders the TI has a really good port called TI Invaders. Burgertime is good but the game has a flaw that I find annoying. The in game music plays while you are moving around but when you walk across any part of the hamburger the music stops. That's not what I find annoying. Once the burger piece falls or you stop walking across it the music starts again but from the very beginning instead of starting where it left off. That's the only thing about it I don't like. The TI is not a bad system but I have not tried to dig too much into it to find out what all it has to offer. Mine rarely gets used. Even for a 16-bit computer the Atari 8-bits actually blow the TI out of the water. It does have good graphics and sounds, though. I'll give it that.

Found this on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Restore-Rebuild-Atari-2600-Joystick-Controller/dp/B01MT1PZ44/ref=sr_1_93?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1524379342&sr=1-93&keywords=Atari The only thing it doesn't come with is new dome contacts for the circuit board.

Any word on how this VCS is doing?

Wow...that's a tough one. I have a few. Well...there's E.T. on the 2600 but we all know that story. The first time I played it, though, I didn't have any reading materials and there was no such thing as the internet like we have now. So I had no way to "Google" the instructions to the game and got frustrated because I couldn't figure out the game or what I was suppose to do. After watching YouTube videos on the game and getting new and loose copies of the game, it became one of my most played 2600 games. Solaris. When I first got this game after getting my first Junior console when I was 16 this was what I got with part of my second paycheck. Even with the instructions I found the game frustrating. Today, however, I have to give it credit as it really pushed the hardware to its limits. It's a well thought out and developed game, controls are solid, and the game is massive for a 2600 title. The game is very tough, though, but has to be one of few 2600 games that has a story and an ending, meaning the game can be beat. High recommendation. On the 5200 it would be Popeye. One of the last few 5200 I would get before the NES came out. Out of all of the games I had at the time Popeye became one of my least favorites on the system. Not too long ago I got Popeye on the 2600 and, wow, that game is horrible. Laster I picked up Popeye again for the 5200 and I like it much better. Popeye on the 5200 grew on me the more I played it. Like most 5200 titles it remains loyal to the arcade original. Easy to pick up and play. Another high recommendation. Last one...Commando on the NES was and remains one of my least favorites on the most popular late 80's console. The game didn't look bad, and sounds were OK, but the controls just seemed a bit off and sloppy at times. Then I got Commando for the 7800 and I really started enjoying the game. Controls are tight, sounds are actually good, and graphics look better than the NES version. One of my top 5 7800 recommendations. Asteroids on the 7800 takes my number one spot. So...E.T and Solaris on the 2600, Popeye on the 5200, and Commando on the 7800. The only one that is questionable is Commando because it was the NES version I disliked. I still do. I never knew the 7800 got it until recently. So I can't say I disliked the 7800 version because I never had it before. But, if I would have known then, and had the option, I would have bought, and recommended, the 7800 version first.

Here's the Lambo I was talking about. I was racing the Lexus for pink slips. I was not about to lose any of my cars!

I took to racing games seriously when Gran Turismo came out on PlayStation. Since then I've been hooked. My favorite racing games are Tokyo Xtreme Racer 1 & 2 on Dreamcast (PS2 port of Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 known as Zero was not bad either), GT 1 & 2 on PS. Once Forza came out on the original XBOX I became a loyal fan. I have completed GT 1 and 2 (due to bug in game GT 2 can only reach 99.9% complete), beat TXR on Dreamcast multiple times (favorite car is the red Nissan Skyline earned from beating a boss). I have yet to complete any Forza titles and I have the original, 2, 4 and Horizon. I've been working on Forza since 2011. I have had GT 3 and still have 4 but felt that 3 was just missing more content and 4 has too much going against the gamer. I also got tired of the License Tests that Gran Turismo puts front and center. You end up with cars you can't use in races until tests are passed. Forza doesn't have that. Instead races later on start require specific makes, models, and class of cars. Horizon will tell you if a car is too good or not good enough for a race and give you the option to pick another car out of your garage or upgrade/downgrade the car you are currently in. I love cars as much as I love video games. And for me this is about as close I will get to cars I know I will never own. One of my favorite cars is the Lamborghini Countach...and I have that car in Horizon. Pretty cool beast of a car. Want a racing tip, Stormsurge? Treat the cars and tracks like the real thing. Each car is different and will perform differently on the track. If you have a hard time using a standard controller you might try finding a steering wheel controller. Those really make a difference. I don't have one but have tried one for the 360 and was blown away.