Atari 5200 Guy

I'm in! Played on OG XBOX Pinball Hall of Fame, 3 Balls. The six credits in the right corner I racked up in a single game. Genie is my favorite table in the game's offerings.

Might as well make it a full summer of Zelda playing when you have time. I plan on it. Zelda is too good of a game to simply pass up. Lots of good memories with that game. This is the game that made me a little more social.

I'm debating what game to bring. Hmmm. There are so many I like to play.

Awesome job, Green!

Interesting question. If it can that would be like those PC keyboards where the trackball was where the arrow keys would be. Remember those?

Did you know you can use a ST mouse to play Missile Command on the XEGS? If you have the keyboard, boot up the game and press CTRL + T on the keyboard. Now use your ST mouse to play the game. Full analog control!

Happy Birthday Atari! Hard to believe it's been 50 years, man.

Oh. That's what they say. Much better than what I thought they were saying. THAT'S the name of that starting tune! I couldn't remember it. Thank you.

Magneto Bugs is a one player, dot munching, maze game. The objective of the game is to get as many of the white dots as possible while avoiding the bugs in the maze. As you move you leave behind red dots that can attract the bugs. This game is played with a joystick controller. I have spent my weekend trying out this game along with two others I picked up. I kept coming back to this one. While it might look like a Pac-Man clone it is far from that game. The back of the package mentions that there are two mazes but I don't think the publisher actually played the game beyond a short test run. This game appears to generate mazes randomly as I have not seen two mazes look alike. And these mazes have dead ends and if a bug is chasing you it's curtains. One of the most interesting features has to be the magnifier box. This box follows your player and is your view window to where you are. I believe this is only game I have come across to use this feature this way. I really like the opening tune that was used in a lot of Looney Tunes shorts. And when you get caught the game says something that I have yet to figure out what it is saying. You do get to rack up points as you progress and you are timed but this timer keeps track of how long you last. Complete a maze and it's on to another maze. You get one life. Despite how simple it looks and sounds I found this game to be very addictive. The real challenge of the game is trying to get all those dots without trapping yourself in a corner or dead end. As many times as I have played this game I have managed to complete only one maze...just one! My only gripe is I grabbed the Main Street Publishing version which was a budget title. It shows as there are no instructions even when the package mentions full documentation and they put the disk inside the shell without a sleeve to protect it. Then again you get what you pay for. The game is fun and I would recommend it. Oh...one more thing...this game was previously released as Tumble Bugs by Datasoft...the same people that made Pole Position, Dig Dug, Moon Shuttle, and others for the A8 computers.

To put my thought about what an add-on is in a different perspective to me a modern computer is made up of what actually goes inside the tower. The basic stuff. Things like keyboards, mouse, printer, speakers, monitor, I consider accessories or add-ons. The same for Atari computers. The program recorders, disk drives, printers, all add-ons/accessories to me. If you was to take a 65XE apart and remove the keyboard you would have the XEGS. It would function just fine without the keyboard. Plug a joystick in and a game cart and you have a game machine. Just my opinion.

The XEGS should qualify because of what it was marketed as originally. It is a consolized 65XE of course but it was supposed to be a game console as far as the public was concerned. With that in mind that leaves another question (I hope you guys are enjoying reading what I'm thinking). What defines an add-on/accessory? In my mind an add-on or accessory is anything that has to be attached to a device to make it work. Computers like the Atari 8-bits and C64 have their keyboards built in. To me that makes those keyboards permanently attached, exempting those from being add-ons. Modern PCs and the XEGS have a keyboard connected by a cable or other means. Those machines don't care if a keyboard is connected or not. I know most Windows based computers will boot fine without one. To me...those are add-ons because you have to add them to gain that ability. If I'm wrong or thinking it differently then others then my apologies. I would like to hear other's thoughts about this and my first question.

OK another question: ignoring the fact of what we now know about it, does anyone here see it as a game console at all?

Yea, see, most of those had issues or delays. I did not know about the third-party keyboard. The XEGS had a keyboard right out of the gate. No delays, no waiting. It was there on release. That is where my thought process was when I decided to ask my question. I would really like to hear other's thoughts.

Question: How many consoles have promised a computer keyboard but failed? Would the XEGS be considered the first console (as it was marketed) to successfully have a keyboard add on?

Any pinball machine that has survived this long deserves to be a classic. The same goes for arcade cabs. If I had to pick two arcade games I would have to choose Galician and OutRun. Those would have to be my top favorites.

I got stuck on the sixth dungeon. I will be coming after Gannon soon.

Magneto Bugs had a bug that kept it from loading. It was a known issue. It has been resolved and works now. I also learned that some games will not work on a disk drive that has the Happy upgrade. So today has been a learning experience. I will be writing reviews on these games soon.

Newest members! Happy to have you three here.

Thanks! I want some of those lol. Light up my game room.

OK...where did those.Pac-Man lights come from? Those are sick!

As they should be. Tetris alone is what helped the GameBoy be a huge success.

The two features I wish the NES classic mini had...WiFi capabilities and streaming capabilities. That way I would be able to share what I'm doing. And, honestly, I never cared for the second Zelda very much. I much preferred the first one more.

Fifth dungeon complete. On to the next one...if I can remember where it was.

I got it!!! I got the Master Sword!

There are lots of areas in the Overworld and in the dungeons you can bomb holes in. If you go to H11 and bomb to the left of the path going north you should find a cave where you can grab a heart container. I just completed the Fourth dungeon and I managed to collect a few more heart containers. I don't remember how many I need but I have 12 now so I'm now heading to the cemetery to try to get the master sword.