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Messages - davyk

#1

That's odd.... I can see them fine. You should see them in media section.

I reviewed the article from my phone and they appear OK....
#2

Nope - I've just added a screenshot for each of my top 10.

Grabbed the shots from emulators so all original.
#3

What did you think of my list? Post opinions here.  :)
#4
Atari Chat / Atari 50
December 05, 2022, 23:38:33 PM
This looks pretty good - have bought it physical for Switch but I've put it away as a Christams present to myself :)

What swung this for me was Tempest 2000.
#5
Atari Chat / Re: The Atari 5200 Discussion Thread
April 07, 2022, 16:10:14 PM


Couple of really nice games there I hadn't heard of....Space Dungeon for one.
#6


Handhelds really aren't the sort of thing I'm into - but - it's Atari - my first love. It also has Asteroids and 7800 games. Also has a microSD card slot so I picked it up. £18 and I had £4 on my shop loyalty card so why not.

At the price I wasn't expecting much and there are several shortcomings - but - this is kind of OK.

It has 60 built in games inc. 5 7800 games. It has an AV out for composite to a TV - haven't tried that yet - and a headphone output too.

Many of the games work fine. I continue to be baffled by the inclusion of paddle games though. They are next to unplayable and a waste of time. But there they are - inc. Super Breakout, Circus, Night Driver - all nice little games but unplayable without a spinner or equivalent. Even analogue sticks are useless.

However with non paddle games the control works well. It has a spongy dpad and 2 buttons (7800 games use 2 buttons). Missile Command requires good dpad control and it works just fine. 7800 Centipede is an excellent port and it's intact here and controls fine.

The screen is small but it works just fine - nice and clear.

Now the downside. Sound is crap. It's the one thing that cheap emus never get right and this is no exception. It doesn't really bother me that much. It's functional. And some games sound OK. Yars' Revenge - one of my favourites - sounds OK-ish (and is further proof that the dpad works well - as this game requires pretty accurate movement). The sound is no better with headphones.

Sprite multiplexing. Atari devs , trying to port arcade games like Pacman etc had to create a game well beyond the hardware's limits. So multiple sprites (>2) on the same vertical position have to be displayed on alternate frames - creating the infamous Atari flicker. Originally on a CRT isn't wasn't as bad as on modern screens because of the persistence of phosphor glow. But on this device in particular the sprites disappear for longer than they should - rendering some games unplayable - Pacman, Space Invaders are 2 examples - ghosts and bullets disappear for far too long to be playable. According to reviews the AV out image on a TV doesn't suffer from this - you get normal flicker - so the screen refresh rate must be screwing the game up.

Difficulty switches. There aren't any! And the default appears to be the B setting which is the easier mode in any 2600 game that uses them. This means - on 2600 asteroids - no ufos. What an idiotic decision. Clearly made by someone who knows nothing about Atari 2600. It also means some games are not playable - the ones like Space Shuttle which use them and the bw/color switch as controls.

Some of the 7800 games run too fast. Far too fast. Guess which one is unplayable? That's right - bloody asteroids. 7800 asteroids is still the best port of the game to a console that isn't an emulation. But they managed to screw that up here. Centipede plays just fine, as does the excellent Food Fight. But not Asteroids. Gnnnnnnnnn.

There are plenty of the better 2600 games missing because of licencing (though why Pacman is on here instead of the superior Ms. Pacman or Pacman Jr. is anyone's guess).

However the sd card slot comes to the rescue. It really does. I dumped the contents of my Harmony cart onto a card and stuck it in and they all work. Even the homebrew stuff.  The Activision games in particular play great on this unit. This is mainly because those guys were the elite Atari devs who left to get a better deal, but also because they didn't do arcade ports , which means they designed games to the strength of the console. So no flickering for example.

Being able to copy ROMs means I will be able to hack up a version of Asteroids set to difficulty A and other games that are similarly hampered by that.  Some tech videos on YT look at its innards and apparently the spec of this is decent enough so the thinking is the sound should have been better.... shrug.

I have tried the PAL60 roms I created for my PAL woody console and a few suffer from overscan (you lose  portion of the screen at the bottom). But one NTSC ROM (Pitfall) seems to have the wrong colours so I'm not sure what the emulator is doing re PAL and NTSC. Another YT video I saw showed the overscan issue absent when using the AV out. So another thing I need to try.

For £14 I can't complain, but this should have been the definitive 2600/7800 fan's handheld because of it's natty styling with fake woodgrain and the classic Atari joystick styled dpad and buttons.  2600 games when well presented with good control are perfect for handheld quick 5min blasts - and you need real buttons - damn mobiles.

This isn't a bad unit to own - even it's look makes it a nice thing to have on a gameroom shelf. Games that work well with the unit, work REALLY well and are a delight - but I won't be swapping out my real woody consoles any time soon.
#7
Sony Chat / Re: Japanese PS2
April 06, 2022, 15:22:52 PM
Picked up Capcom Classic Collection for my JP-PS2. I used to have the PAL version of this but it's 50Hz only so thought it better to get this version. Nice compilation.  I have Vol.2 in PAL as it plays at 60Hz.  I think I prefer the 1st volume - those older games have a stronger hook for me. Damn tough though. :)








#8
Atari Chat / Re: Atari Archive
March 11, 2022, 13:34:42 PM

This is one of the best and most consistent YT series around for classic Atari. I always learn something from these.

Warlords is an old favourite of mine - I have a copy boxed with manual. :)
#9
Atari Chat / Re: Atari Archive
December 19, 2021, 14:43:30 PM
I like the mushroom cloud graphic that the 2600 port has. Even the arcade version doesn't have that.
#10
That Monsterland package looks lovely.

Re that patch - if there's one I'd like signed by the dev like that, it's Kaboom!  What a game. I still play it from time to time. Nothing quite like it.
#11
Atari Chat / Re: Atari Archive
December 19, 2021, 12:16:52 PM

Missile Command is a great port on 2600. I didn't play it in the day because I simply thought it wouldn't be any good. I played a fair bit of it in the arcade and I couldn't beleive the 2600 would get close. The screenshots were inaccurate too and made the game look worse than it was (which was quite often the case with 2600 games by Atari).

I couldn't believe how well it played when I first tried it. Would have been a firm favourite had I got it when it was contemporary.
#12
Atari Chat / Re: Missile Command book
December 02, 2021, 23:03:19 PM
It's very good. I posted a mini-review of it on his site.

I watched parts of his record run on his site. Missile Command tournament mode competitive play is mad. Once you hit about 250,000 you are seconds away from a game over as you end up with one city to protect. One slip up and it's over.  He scored over 4m without messing up - his game ended because one of the fire buttons malfunctioned!!!

Tournament mode Missile Command is one of the most impressive score categories because unlike in marathon modes you can't build up a huge number of lives. To be fair to marathon Missile Command players, it's one of the trickiest to play too because the game will reset if you don't manage the number of extra cities you have. The city counter only goes up to 255 - overflow it and the game ends...

Missile Command play is at least as impressive as Donkey Kong and Asteroids Deluxe runs as they are pretty intensive games too even at elite level. All 3 of these games have an element of randomness that needs to be responded to in real time. There  is no pattern play in these games.

#13
Atari Chat / Missile Command book
November 27, 2021, 12:28:18 PM
This dropped onto my doormat yesterday.  :)

Reduced to £20 for Black Friday. Signed by the author. :)

Have dipped in and it's well written. The high score story of this game (this book covers that and MUCH more) is great because of Roy Shildt aka Mr Awesome - bonkers classic gamer who featured in a Playgirl spread. :)

I had no idea his record had been busted by a UK player! (The author).  This was a favourite in the arcades. I remember playing this with my cousins and have happy memories of that. It's a great 2P game too because it alternates turns between waves so no-one is standing around too long.

Created by the legend that is Dave Theurer - who also did the Tempest   (wow).

#14
Sega Chat / rez at 20
November 27, 2021, 12:22:18 PM
Hard to believe this is 20 years ago now. I got this for Dreamcast originally and then when there was debate about it and the PS2 port I had to get that too in order to see if there was a difference (none than I can remember). And of course I couldn't resist getting the HD redux on 360 which adds widescreen support.

One of my favourite games this. It's "just" an on-rails shooter gameplay-wise, but the sights and sounds are what really make it.

Booted up the PS2 port yesterday and played through a couple of levels in score attack mode. What a wonderful game. Not matched never mind bettered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMKyIRfJYQA
#15
Nintendo Chat / Re: Nintendo GameCube
November 05, 2021, 23:42:57 PM

That looks dreadful. Unnecessary too.