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Quick question for all you Atari 7800 owners out there


HDN

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Ah yes... since I grew up with the CX40 and Wico joysticks, I had always held the joystick in my right hand. Before I ordered the first one, I went back and forth in my mind and just went for the standard configuration that I have since the seller offered satisfaction guarantee. It turned out using the joystick with my left hand wasn't an issue for me. I did briefly consider ordering another one with the joystick on the right side though.

I've seen ambidextrous arcade stick designs (joystick in the middle, two sets of buttons to the left and right of the joystick), but at the time, I wanted a smaller controller.

Edited by socrates63
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If I get an arcade 7800 controller I think I'm going to build it. It seems the cheapest option and I can make it however I want. And that's a big if because after the 7800 is bought I won't have much money until Christmas or my birthday rolls around. I hope to get an actual job after this pandemic is over.

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2 hours ago, socrates63 said:

I've seen ambidextrous arcade stick designs (joystick in the middle, two sets of buttons to the left and right of the joystick), but at the time, I wanted a smaller controller.

You mean like this 😀

 

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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On 8/18/2020 at 3:40 PM, HDN said:

@dauber I've been looking at the Edladdin Easy 78 controller board thing and am considering building an arcade controller for use with my 2600 and if I get one a 7800. Would you recommend that? 

I'm not Dauber, but I feel like I am qualified to answer this one since I have built a couple of arcade sticks for my 7800- I hadn't heard of the Easy 78 before you mentioned it - those look AMAZING.  I would definitely have gone that route had I known that they existed.  As it is my wiring is very...um... let's say "functional" 🙂 

Those look like they would have made life a lot easier!

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Thanks, everyone, for all your controller help. I hope I don't have to use it. My hands are small enough that I don't think the PainLine controllers will cramp them. After all, I am a pretty big fan of the Intellivison-style vertical orientation seen on these controllers and other similar ones. If they do cramp, I guess I'll just have to tough it out for a few months. I bet a lot of you had to do that back when this thing was new.

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10 hours ago, CrossBow said:

Yeah the cart I'm using was designed originally to hold a 2600 system and games below it. But since mine is missing the front piece to the lid, it works quite well for housing my 5200. These were taken over 4 years ago, but it still sits in this same cart in the same corner of the game room when not in use. I do have a dust cover on it now though so the lid doesn't just sit ontop of console directly anymore.

5200_cart.jpg.8e9a173944dbfa2117a6b680e0926ef5.jpg

 

5200_Cart_opened.jpg.966c620a2cfadafa51ac26e2f88ec78f.jpg

I'd have to paint that sucker black and put silver accents on the doors (close to the wood going vertical) and across the top lid close to the back or about in the same place as what is on the 5200.  But that's just me.  And I love your 4-port setup!!  It's nice to see another 5200 have a good home.  I have Sinistar and it's a really fun game to play on the 5200. I have yet to find Zaxxon and Star Trek but I'm on the lookout for Gyruss first.  That's one of my personal arcade favorites.  Nice setup!

Side note:  Have you thought about drilling small holes just big enough to use those metal tabs used on shelves with adjustable shelving to help hold your lid when it's closed.  Just a question and a thought.

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2 hours ago, HDN said:

If I get an arcade 7800 controller I think I'm going to build it. It seems the cheapest option and I can make it however I want. And that's a big if because after the 7800 is bought I won't have much money until Christmas or my birthday rolls around. I hope to get an actual job after this pandemic is over.

If you do build one you will also need two resistors for the dual fire buttons.  I forget what Ohm they are, though.  I have a feeling once this pandemic is over there will be LOTs of jobs as long as businesses can hold out.  We lost our local Game Stop so the door is wide open here for a new used game store to come in.  I've seriously thought about starting one.  I just don't know where or how to begin.

Edited by Atari 5200 Guy
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41 minutes ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

We lost our local Game Stop so the door is wide open here for a new used game store to come in.  I've seriously thought about starting one.  I just don't know where or how to begin.

I've long wondered how they started those things. You can't order them from suppliers because no one makes those old games anymore. Maybe flea markets, garage sales, asking around, craigslist, etc? I know nothing about business if you couldn't already tell.

It's unfortunate about your GameStop but don't feel too bad because it's GameStop. They suck. If it was a local place it would be worse. 

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11 hours ago, Atari 5200 Guy said:

I'd have to paint that sucker black and put silver accents on the doors (close to the wood going vertical) and across the top lid close to the back or about in the same place as what is on the 5200.  But that's just me.  And I love your 4-port setup!!  It's nice to see another 5200 have a good home.  I have Sinistar and it's a really fun game to play on the 5200. I have yet to find Zaxxon and Star Trek but I'm on the lookout for Gyruss first.  That's one of my personal arcade favorites.  Nice setup!

Side note:  Have you thought about drilling small holes just big enough to use those metal tabs used on shelves with adjustable shelving to help hold your lid when it's closed.  Just a question and a thought.

No...I would never alter this cabinet. It was an exclusive cabinet that was offered for Atari Club members I believe and there aren't that many of them around. Originally the top lid has another plexi section that runs along the front of it attached with another small piece of wood frame 90 degrees to the top so that it would sit flush and square. Again it was designed to house a 2600 system. The back of it along the top is opened up for the wiring etc to be connected so that you could literally have this connected and just roll it off to the side when not in use or roll it out and lift the lid for put a game in when you wanted to play. If this one were fully intact, I wouldn't be able to house the 5200 in it because the 5200 has to sit forward of the cabinet a bit for stability since it really isn't that deep/wide on the top. In fact there is about 2 inches or so that hangs out the back and about an inch or so out the front with the 5200 on there. 

As for Sinistart, I'm not a huge fan of the arcade game since I'm not very good at it and I don't play my copy that often. Gyruss is another story. I don't have it cib but I do have it loose. If you look carefully in the first pic I posted with the lid closed, look to the upper left center where the large display case is and you will see where my loose 5200 carts reside stacked up. No end labels of course but they are arranged alphabetically by title so I have a decent idea of what game is where in my stack. But yes Gyruss is favorite of mine and I pretty much own it for all the systems it was released on. About 3 or so years ago, I was able to get a full upright working Gyruss cab that sits in my garage along with a few other cabs.

 

 

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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12 hours ago, HDN said:

I've long wondered how they started those things. You can't order them from suppliers because no one makes those old games anymore. Maybe flea markets, garage sales, asking around, craigslist, etc? I know nothing about business if you couldn't already tell.

It's unfortunate about your GameStop but don't feel too bad because it's GameStop. They suck. If it was a local place it would be worse. 

Well, I can tell you how the main ones we have here in my area got started.

The largest chain of retrogame stores here is known as Vintage Stock. They are known as he Movie Trading Company in Tx. And also under the name of Edutainmart in the Missouri area I think. But they are all owned by the same group. However, it all started with a single store in Joplin Missouri called The Book Barn. As the name implies they dealt in used books and comics originally. But then started to take on other pop culture stuff and realized within a few years that there was more they could offer and take in as trade..etc that no other stores around them were doing. And that is about when they started to take in old video games. They carried everything from Odyysey 2, 2600 to NES, Genesis, and Saturn/N64 and PS1 at that time. Eventually Dreamcast etc would be taken in and included. I believe around the late 90s is when the Book Barn expanded into other locations and into Oklahoma under the new name of Vintage Stock. It was in the late 90s and early 2000s that I got most of my games from them as they were quite cheap back then and the whole value of these games wasn't a commonly known thing. Anyway, Vintage Stock essentially amassed into quite the empire that still exists to this day. But now of course they know about the value of these games and the days of getting good deals from them are largely gone unless you know someone on the inside who works for them. Anyway... they weren't the only ones back then. We also had a small chain of video game stores known as GameXChange but the ones in my town were a franchise owned by a local family and collector. He initially started off his stock of stuff at his three stores back then by actually offering and selling his own stuff from his personal collection since the 80s. Again good deals could be had back then on stuff and like Vintage, they took in trades of used modern games and offered those as well. They also would get in stock of new current stuff to sell as well. But in the mid 2000s they began to loose to Vintage Stock, GameStop and eventually all the GameXChanges in my area closed up. There are still a few left in the state but they aren't anything as good as what we had in my area in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

About 2011 or 2012 a new retro themed game shop opened up that had retro systems setup to be played on and used to test games and only dealt initially with used older games. They got their stock of initial inventory because they borrowed it from another retro store in another town that had surplus and the operator of this new store in my city was employed originally at the other store in the other town about an hour away. So they partnered as it were with the main store in the other town as the primary financial backing to the new and smaller store in my city. However, they had more reasonable pricing in place for their older games as compared to GameStop and Vintage Stock. As a result, they quickly gained popularity and also had games for systems that weren't nearly as common and the other stores didn't carry. Like imports and TurboGrafix...etc. They still exist to this day in the same location they started off in nearly 10 years ago and while they now offer both retro and modern, they also have arcades setup to play on, they offer refurbed consoles and even do mod work on consoles they sell. They are pretty much the best 'game' in town for retro collectors and known throughout the state. That store is known as ThrillHouse Games and they are only 5min from my house. I've a good relationship with them and even repaired a few of their systems they didn't want to bother with.

But to answer this question, these stores all pretty much got started using inventory that the owner already had managed to acquire over the span of several years prior to opening their stores.

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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3 hours ago, CrossBow said:

Well, I can tell you how the main ones we have here in my area got started.

The largest chain of retrogame stores here is known as Vintage Stock. They are known as he Movie Trading Company in Tx. And also under the name of Edutainmart in the Missouri area I think. But they are all owned by the same group. However, it all started with a single store in Joplin Missouri called The Book Barn. As the name implies they dealt in used books and comics originally. But then started to take on other pop culture stuff and realized within a few years that there was more they could offer and take in as trade..etc that no other stores around them were doing. And that is about when they started to take in old video games. They carried everything from Odyysey 2, 2600 to NES, Genesis, and Saturn/N64 and PS1 at that time. Eventually Dreamcast etc would be taken in and included. I believe around the late 90s is when the Book Barn expanded into other locations and into Oklahoma under the new name of Vintage Stock. It was in the late 90s and early 2000s that I got most of my games from them as they were quite cheap back then and the whole value of these games wasn't a commonly known thing. Anyway, Vintage Stock essentially amassed into quite the empire that still exists to this day. But now of course they know about the value of these games and the days of getting good deals from them are largely gone unless you know someone on the inside who works for them. Anyway... they weren't the only ones back then. We also had a small chain of video game stores known as GameXChange but the ones in my town were a franchise owned by a local family and collector. He initially started off his stock of stuff at his three stores back then by actually offering and selling his own stuff from his personal collection since the 80s. Again good deals could be had back then on stuff and like Vintage, they took in trades of used modern games and offered those as well. They also would get in stock of new current stuff to sell as well. But in the mid 2000s they began to loose to Vintage Stock, GameStop and eventually all the GameXChanges in my area closed up. There are still a few left in the state but they aren't anything as good as what we had in my area in the late 90s and early 2000s. 

About 2011 or 2012 a new retro themed game shop opened up that had retro systems setup to be played on and used to test games and only dealt initially with used older games. They got their stock of initial inventory because they borrowed it from another retro store in another town that had surplus and the operator of this new store in my city was employed originally at the other store in the other town about an hour away. So they partnered as it were with the main store in the other town as the primary financial backing to the new and smaller store in my city. However, they had more reasonable pricing in place for their older games as compared to GameStop and Vintage Stock. As a result, they quickly gained popularity and also had games for systems that weren't nearly as common and the other stores didn't carry. Like imports and TurboGrafix...etc. They still exist to this day in the same location they started off in nearly 10 years ago and while they now offer both retro and modern, they also have arcades setup to play on, they offer refurbed consoles and even do mod work on consoles they sell. They are pretty much the best 'game' in town for retro collectors and known throughout the state. That store is known as ThrillHouse Games and they are only 5min from my house. I've a good relationship with them and even repaired a few of their systems they didn't want to bother with.

But to answer this question, these stores all pretty much got started using inventory that the owner already had managed to acquire over the span of several years prior to opening their stores.

GameXChange was my go to store for games.  I visited the chain's main headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas when I would visit my mother back then.  I loved that place.  The one my hometown got started off good but then ownership changed and they started charging tax on trades and I lost interest.

Springfield is where I found a Vintage Stock in the early 2000's and was like WOW!  It is where I found a game I had been looking for pretty cheap for Dreamcast.  I haven't been back though because I moved since and live too far away.

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12 hours ago, HDN said:

Just listened to episode 4 of the 7800 game by game podcast. @nosweargamer was talking about how Food Fight can crash on certain revisions of the 7800. What causes this? Should I be concerned?

I don't recall what causes it, but there seems to be minor variations on every revision. Occasionally they affect certain games. I believe the Food Fight one is pretty rare, so I wouldn't get too concerned about it. Choplifter is the more common one. If you ever want to make sure you avoid that one, get a Choplifter cartridge with a 1988 copyright year on it, not the 1987.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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2 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

I don't recall what causes it, but there seems to be minor variations on every revision. Occasionally they affect certain games. I believe the Food Fight one is pretty rare, so I wouldn't get too concerned about it. Choplifter is the more common one. If you ever want to make sure you avoid that one, get a Choplifter cartridge with a 1988 copyright year on it, not the 1987.

Thanks. I was pretty worried about that one. Good thing Choplifter is very low on my list of games to get

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I wasn't aware of any crashing issues with food fight on 7800s interesting. I still own both my original Choplifter and Food fight carts. Neither one ever had any issues on my original 7800 back then. But the choplifter graphical glitch does occur on my slightly newer daily driver 7800 that I use mainly. But I don't think I've ever played a lot of Food Fight on it to know if has issues with that game or not.

 

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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Thanks for everyone's help! I wouldn't have gotten this system without you! Just two more days until I get it! It's like waiting for Christmas!

I also found it funny that the nes version of dk jr CIB is hundreds of dollars more than virtually the same game on the 7800

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