HDN Posted October 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 This is amazing! This morning I was sent a tracking link by a certain cjherr from over at AtariAge. He had offered to send me some Atari 7800 cartridges that he no longer uses free of charge! I am so excited for them to arrive! I am incredibly thankful for his generosity. This is such a kind thing he's doing. I won't spoil what's in the box as I plan to make a lot unboxing video and post it here in this thread. Feel free to speculate however. Thank You, cjherr!!! Last night, I also got a message from @socrates63. My parents did say that him sending something from the retro junk box (and the 7800 games) was OK as long as I paid it forward. However, I did not expect a tracking number for a random eBay package. He told me not to open it until I got the junk box package from him.That's going to be really hard! I need a place to hide it where I can't be tempted to open it! I plan to open those in a video on a later date. Thank You, Young!!! Neither of you had to do this. This is so kind of you both! I have no idea when I will be able to, but at some point in the future I need to make it up to you guys! And I also need to find a way to pay the kindness forward to somebody else! RickR and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas10e Posted October 18, 2020 Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 😇 https://www.wikihow.com/Secretly-Open-a-Sealed-Envelope 😇 HDN, socrates63 and RickR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 hour ago, chas10e said: 😇 https://www.wikihow.com/Secretly-Open-a-Sealed-Envelope 😇 Tempting, perhaps. But since I'm not sending this to anyone else, if I opened it it would just be like normal! I'm just kidding, though. I won't open it before I get the other thing. I can't thank you enough for your generosity, Young. I was really curious on what was sent. I did spend two hours of last night looking through recently sold eBay listings. I tried every keyword that I thought might be a package coming from Young, and nothing matched the city this package was from. In the end, my detective work just ended up being two hours wasted! I was up until around 2 AM. Part of the reason I've been really tired today. If I hide the package, I won't be tempted. I'll be distracted by those 7800 games, like Comman--I mean, a surprise! Hopefully I will be able to play them soon. I feel I'm pretty close to getting my stuff back. If not, Xenoph-- I mean, OTHER surprise game will be nice to look at. Plus, I think I know what I'm going to do with the duplicates, my first ever for a home console! socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted October 18, 2020 Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 Oh boy... don't get so amped up, Harry. I'd hate to disappoint you. It's nothing amazing but just something you don't have. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 7 hours ago, socrates63 said: Oh boy... don't get so amped up, Harry. I'd hate to disappoint you. It's nothing amazing but just something you don't have. 🙂 @socrates63 nothing is disappointing! I mean, I’m the Atari Miniature Golf guy! This is unexpected and very nice of you! Thanks a lot! socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 Wow. Just wow. I can't believe they're here! @cjherr (who I found out was here all along) generously sent a box of twenty-some Atari 7800 cartridges. I am incredibly grateful for this gift. He said these games weren't used anymore as he's a strictly Flashcart kind of guy. He wanted these games to serve their purpose (being played) instead of collecting dust, so he kindly sent them to me! So, now my Atari 7800 library has been more than tripled! Honestly, man, I can't thank you enough! So, I said I'd post an unboxing video here. I plan to completely reform my channel into "almost strictly gaming" sometime soon, though no promises that I won't occasionally delve into other topics! So, for the first time you will all be able to hear my voice! I had to stay a little quiet as others in the house were doing video calls and such. There's also Sharpie on my hands as I used one to block out the personal info on the box. I swear, every time I go so much as near those things, ink gets all over my hand! Without further ado, An Atari 7800 Unboxing! So, there's my video! I'm humbled by this generous gift. I need to find a way to pay it forward someday. I don't know when, but someday... So, if you don't have time to watch me ramble on and on, here's a list of the games I got in the box: Ms. Pac-Man Robotron: 2084 Dark Chambers Touchdown Football Commando Desert Falcon Realsports Baseball Rampage Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Junior Crossbow Joust Xenophobe Pole Position II Xenophobe Xevious Xevious (yes there are two of them) Galaga Choplifter! Asteroids Hat Trick Centipede Dig Dug I hope to try these out soon. I haven't played any yet. The good news is that my mom is going to let me have my 7800 back for a bit! Or at least, that's what she said to me. When I'm able to play them, I plan to post my thoughts on a specific game each day. So on one day, I'll cover Donkey Kong for example, and maybe the next day I'll do Robotron. Thanks all for reading my post and watching the video! What are your thoughts on these games? socrates63, RickR and nosweargamer 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 21, 2020 Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 That is so awesome! And good video by the way. @cjherr, that's very generous of you! And also very cool. I love it. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 21, 2020 Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 6 minutes ago, HDN said: What are your thoughts on these games? I don't have Commando. But otherwise, all of these games are worthwhile and fun. My favorites here are: Ms. Pac Man - I love how fast the game gets. Robotron - the 7800 was MADE for this many objects. Donkey Kong - Very well done. Joust - Plays great Centipede - the two player simultaneous mode is incredible fun Asteroids - probably my #2 favorite 7800 game. A wonderful update to an old favorite. socrates63 and HDN 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted October 21, 2020 Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 Wow, that's incredibly generous @cjherr. You truly embody the spirit of the hobby and community. Lucky young man, that Harry. Must be doing something right 😉 HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 21, 2020 Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 That's an awesome instant collection. 🙂 HDN 1 Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 (edited) I have some good news and bad news. Good news is that all the games work! Some take a bit more persuading than others, but that's probably because I haven't cleaned any of them yet. The main thing is that Choplifter works perfectly on my system. No glitches. So that's good. The bad news is, my mom's coworker got the virus. So... my mom's going to be working from home until November 9th. Edited October 22, 2020 by HDN socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Oh, I hope your mom is OK. Did she work closely with the person at work who got sick? HDN 1 Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 2 minutes ago, TrekMD said: Oh, I hope your mom is OK. Did she work closely with the person at work who got sick? I don’t know. It was a pretty small space, but she had her own office and such. Still, she’s staying home nonetheless. Arrrgghh. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining here, but this is going to be a really rough few weeks. I am mostly going to be restricted to my room. I won’t have the luxury of going downstairs and grabbing a snack or something. When she was home in Spring, the whole downstairs area was basically off-limits. We couldn’t talk at meals either. She always takes a long time at work and stays until about 9 or so. She works the same hours here. At her office at night, there are no distractions. Here, there are lots. So we basically stay upstairs in silence the whole day. It doesn’t work out great and this is just the way it is around here. If I get my 7800 back in a more permanent form I think I’ll replace my 2600 in my room with it until my mom goes back to work. Unlike last Spring, I have something that will help keep me sane: this site. I can actually talk to people! It will help distract me from... that. So thanks for being here. Whoo. Sorry if I vented a bit there. I’m just a little uncertain of what’s to come, I suppose. TrekMD, RickR and socrates63 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Sounds like she may not have been exposed if she was working by herself in a room. Hopefully that's the case. Sorry that you'll be stuck upstairs but, as you pointed out, you'll have a place like this to keep you distracted. 😉 HDN 1 Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Keep the volume of your TV low! And yep, we are here. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Yesterday, I played a few games of Robotron. At first, I thought I could just use one joystick in each hand, but that ended up just causing the controllers to keep slipping out of the proper game-playing position. So I thought I’d try it with just a single stick, but that ended up making the game almost unplayable. After those didn’t work out, I decided I would make my own joystick holder out of a cardboard box and some rubber bands. I haven’t used it yet, but the sticks stay in place and I’m pretty sure it will work at least a little better than a single stick! Here it is: nosweargamer, socrates63 and RickR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Very clever! Let us know how that works. My son and I used Legos to build a holder (years ago), and we ended up using a little Elmer's glue to help hold it together. I think it got taken apart, but I should see about rebuilding. HDN and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Love it! And your camera on your new phone is way better. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 11 minutes ago, RickR said: My son and I used Legos to build a holder (years ago), and we ended up using a little Elmer's glue to help hold it together. I think it got taken apart, but I should see about rebuilding. Very interesting! I should have thought about that. If this doesn't work out, it's certainly an option. I assume it would be much sturdier as well. socrates63 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 It broke apart too easily until we added glue. We used a big flat base piece, then made two three-legged bars right around the stick. I like your use of rubber bands, as that may be a solution that does the trick. Maybe zip ties if the rubber bands aren't sturdy enough. It's a good idea because the base of your hands can be used to help hold the joystick down. The Lego bars added about an inch of height that made it harder to use your hands to hold them down. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 7 minutes ago, RickR said: I like your use of rubber bands, as that may be a solution that does the trick. Maybe zip ties if the rubber bands aren't sturdy enough. It's a good idea because the base of your hands can be used to help hold the joystick down. Holding the joystick down a bit with your hands is what I was going for. I'm okay with holding them down a little bit as long as they're somewhat stabilized. I considered using zip ties as well, but I don't have any and it would be much harder to take the joysticks out when I'm done playing. My design was somewhat inspired by one I saw in a John Hancock video, though on a budget! Not like his was crazy expensive to make, but I'd need two joysticks to permanently devote to Robotron 2084 and zip tie them down on a piece of wood. For him, it makes sense. I mean, he says in his videos that 7800 Robotron is his favorite game of all time. I'm not too big of a fan and I don't really want to semi-permanently fasten my sticks to a board. This way, I can take them out easier when I want to, and all the stuff was already around the house. RickR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 I agree with you. I can't dedicate controllers to just this game. The other idea is long twist ties...maybe those ones from toy packaging. HDN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 I feel this might be a topic worthy of its own thread! There are many unique ways to tackle this issue. I mean, we weren't even trying and we came up with four different ways of doing this. I bet there's a lot more. Of course, there's also the dual stick Edladdin controller, though that's WAAAY out of my price range. RickR and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted October 22, 2020 Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Or the dual-pad Retrogameboyz pad. HDN and socrates63 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDN Posted October 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2020 Or use two Power Stiks; one in each hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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