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Video Game Mascots interest me. The are designed to sell games, but they don't always succeed. Usually they appear in games, but not always. So I decided to take a look at the best and worst of the bunch.

Here's my choices for the four best:


And here are my choices for the four worst:



What are your thoughts? What mascots were the best and worst in your opinion?

I'm a big fan of Easter Eggs, so I'm happy to share with you some videos I've made of Atari 2600 Easter Eggs.

Let's start with the big one:
Adventure

Excited?

Update: A viewer pointed out that this appears to be a port of the GBA Robotech game.
I haven't played it so I can't say if the game is any good or not.

As you may or may not already know, some Atari 7800 versions of Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator were sold with 2600 labels on the put on the cartridges by mistake. I made a video showing this, but you can tell what system a 2600 labeled cart is for simply by looking at the exposed circuit board (The 7800 version is wider and includes groves on each side. It also won't fit in a 2600 system).

And now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Do you have any favorite hidden gems on the 2600?
Favorite games that may have been overlooked due to their rarity, obscurity, release date or for other reasons?
Here's my current top ten hidden gems on the system. Feel free to share your favorite hidden gems below!

I don't know how this affects anyone in the UK, but atgames announced all of their versions of the Atari & Sega Flashbacks for 2017 (For a total of 7 systems between the two). The biggest news is HD systems along with some new games.

FYI - There is also a dedicated thread to the Premium Sega one here by TrekMD:
http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7954.0

For my final episode of The Atari 7800 Game By Game Podcast, I asked for people to vote for their top 5 and bottom 5 official Atari 7800 games. I got more votes than expected and put the results in the two videos below.
As far as I know, this is the first time such lists have been created using several users input.

Thanks to everyone who voted!!!

Some notes:
-Votes were weighted when voters listed the games in order of preference.
-The videos show the games in order with honorable mentions, making these more like top ten lists. The "Best" video has an extra honorable since Xevious & Asteroids were tied.
-The #1 Best & Worst game won by a large margin.
-Impossible Mission got a lot of "Worst" votes due to the impossible bug in the US version.
-Sport Games and Flight Simulators really suffered in the votes. The two sports games that got the most "Best" votes included Ninja Golf (Ranked #12) and One on One Basketball (Ranked #19). The only flight simulator to get "Best" votes was Ace of Aces (Ranked #28)
-Games that got both "Best" & "Worst" votes: Ace of Aces, Double Dragon, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Impossible Mission, Kung Fu Master, Midnight Mutants, Motor Psycho, One on One Basketball and Xenophobe

The Top 5 7800 Games:


The Bottom 5 7800 Games:

At Games will be releasing a portable Atari Flashback this year!
I've included details in the video below.
What do you think? Are you interested in getting one when it comes out?
Does At Games release their stuff overseas as well?

Since I have gone through several of the limited Atari 7800 Controller options on my YouTube show, I'd thought I would compile my findings in one simple thread.

Here they are in no particular order:

The Standard Pro Line Joystick


The CX78 aka Europad


The Edladdin Seagull 78 Adapter (let's you use Genesis controllers on 2 button 7800 games)


The Edladdin Supreme 78: All Play 4/8 (Premium, Convertible 4-way/ 8-way Joystick)


The Edladdin Super Twin 78 (Premium Twin Stick Joystick)

In case you didn't know, you can beat Pitfall on the 2600!!! There are 32 treasures in the game and if you get them all before your time or lives run out, you will get to a kill screen! In order to do so, you have to take a specific path and use the tunnels that are used as short cuts. The game has 255 total screens, but the 20 minute limit makes it impossible to see all of them in a single game.
Anyways, after several attempts I finally beat the game for the first time in my life! It wasn't a perfect run (I lost 2 lives and some points), but I did get to the kill screen!
You can check it out in this video:



BTW, Here are the steps to the path you have to take:

Step 1) Start by going right 11 screens. Enter the underground passage on the screen with the single rolling log after the second set of crocodiles. Go to left and take the exit.
Step 2) Once you exit, continue left 10 screens until you find the screen with the 3 stationary logs and take the underground passage and continue left until the exit.
Step 3) After exiting, go right 2 screens and get the ring.
Step 4) Go left 4 screens to the screen with the 2 rolling logs. Take the underground passage and continue left until the exit.
Step 5) Once you exit, go left 24 screens until you get to the screen with 3 rolling logs and an underground passage. Take it and go left to the exit.
Step 6) Once you exit, go left a whooping 63 screens until you to the screen with 3 rolling logs and 3 holes in the grounds including an unground passage. Take it and go left to the exit.
Step 7) Upon exiting, go right 3 screens and get the money.
Step 8 ) Go left another 58 screens until you arrive at the screen with 2 rolling logs and an underground passage. Take it and go left towards the exit.
Step 9) Go right 3 screens to get the gold bar.

Hey guys!
Some of you may know already, but I am working on launching The Atari 7800 Game By Game podcast very soon!

I'm aiming at covering 2 games a week, except for special episodes. For the most part, I will go in part order, sprinkling in the 3rd party games here and there. I'm also hoping for as many audio and text submissions on the games as possible!
 
I'm currently working on episode 1. For the first episode, I wanted to focus on the system itself.  I'm also hoping for lots of stories from anyone who ever owned a 7800, even my friends from across the pond!  When did you get it, why did you get, what was your first impressions of it, that sort of thing,  I will take any text or audio submissions you have. Length doesn't matter, but I do ask that you keep it family friendly.
 
You can send either text or mp3 to: mailto:atari7800podcast@aol.com">atari7800podcast@aol.com

Since I'm a US gamer, I'm curious how the 7800 and Jaguar did across the pond. I know that systems like the Master System did much better over in the UK. I know over here both bombed pretty bad. I owned a 7800 as a kid, but I never, ever ran into anyone else who did. I'm also guessing most gamers didn't realize the Jaguar was out when it came out and to this day it gets very little attention.  I also notice some of the rarer 7800 titles can be found in PAL format much cheaper over here.

Hey guys! I've heard some great stuff about you guys! I'm a part of the Retro Junkie Network and I heard about y'all through the Intellivisionaries and Retro Obscura. I have a show on youtube the covers mostly retro video games from the Atari 2600 onward.

You can find my channel here. I think a lot of you would like it:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

I'm currently at 46 episodes. My latest is on Yoshi's Island on the SNES. I try to get out at least one episode a week, sometimes more: NSG Ep 46 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Review (SNES) The No Swear Gamer Retro Reviews