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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.

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.

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).

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.

What are the feelings on the 360 being retro?  (or for that matter PS3 - but i don't own one).

It's possibly a step too far but within another gen I think it's getting there. My personal rule of thumb is current_gen - 2 = retro.  I note that there is no Microsoft section here and I'd consider Oldbox retro since Gamecube and PS2 are.

It's hard to look at games on a 360 and consider them retro. But it brings up the question of whether retro is finite. If we draw a line somewhere instead of moving it along as time progresses then that does make it finite.

Recent gens of games haven't exactly created new experiences - esp. since 360 which brought excellent online integration to gaming.  Apart from VR I don't see much else happening apart from "more" realism which itself tends to age in the eyes of those who care about it.

I've built up a rather nice physical 360 collection based mainly around 2D shmups. It's a superb console for that and none of them have been made BC with the newer consoles - leaving it the only way to experience most of Cave's finest examples of the genre. My personal feelings have the console on my shortlist for best ever.

I'm linking my latest article to this thread.

https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/atari-2600-on-the-couch-10-atari-2600-games-for-same-room-multiplayer/

Any comments, questions, suggestions welcome here.  There are other 2600 games such as Sky Diver, Video Olympics and some modes in Breakout that have 2 player simultaneous modes. Any others?

Rearranged the room I have set aside for my retro consoles, CRTs etc. Looks a bit tidier now.  I have an RGB switch (the silver box to the right of the rotated CRT I use for shmups) that connects most of the consoles to that 28" CRT on the left (yeah - that's a really big rubik's cube!).  The flat panel on the right I use with the Japanese Gamecube you see beside it as it accepts s-video and that's the best the JP-GC can do without a mod. It's on an extendable, rotatable arm which is handy for the shmups I have on the JP-GC.

Just bought into this. Got the 50 game DLC too.

Anyone else?

I got my 2600 in the Summer of '82.

So by that time there was a big library and a healthy set of regular releases. It was very easy to get one's head turned by newer games. By that time many new games were arcade ports and being a lover of the arcade it was very easy to be attracted to a port of an arcade game I liked. So it was very easy to overlook those earlier games.

However I was also very suspicious of licenced games (an attitude that has served me well to this day).

I was 16 in 1982 and had already written some computer programs on an Apple IIe in school and was in the middle of writing a version of Monopoly for that computer as part of my school project. This was in Apple BASIC so I had an appreciation of what computers could do. I was also aware of assembler and how much superior games written in that were to BASIC games.

Atari games still had an air of mystery to them but already I could see their limitations. I hated having too much flicker in a game and I was already figuring out that flicker tended to be associated with games that had to display multiple sprites at the same vertical height on screen...

Anyhow. Basically this meant me overlooking some of the older games in the catalogue for various reasons. Either I saw them as variations on games I already had or thought them just too simplistic and imagined I wouldn't get full value out of them. At that time these games were EXPENSIVE!!!!

I knew that some arcade ports would never match the originals. But sometimes I was too cautious and I avoided some of those ports and I probably would have enjoyed them in retrospect.

A triple A game then cost £30. In 1983 that equates to over £100 in today's money taking inflation into account. Being a teenager I had to maximise my opportunities for games that arose from gifted money or from amassing money from part time jobs and/or benefits I was able to claim while going to technical college to further my education while paying money into the house. I'm comfortable now but I come from a modest background. I still retain an attitude to spending money I learned from that time. I wouldn't pay £100 for a game nowadays. I just couldn't justify it unless it was funded from selling other games in my collection.

So I'll post here about games I avoided that I probably should have got. This is based on trying them out on Stella or by loading them onto my Harmony cart and playing them on actual hardware.

[Gottlieb Pinball Classics]

Started going through my Wii games that have been on the shelf for years.

First up Gottlieb Pinball Classics....I first had this on PS2. It's quite a nice game but that version just crashed at random so I went for the Wii version.

The control is really rather nice and understated. nunchuk stick is the plunger, B on wii mote and z on nunchuck for flippers. You can nudge by jerking the wiimote and nunchuck and it matters which one you use. It seems to be consistent and adds a certain something.

The Wii resolution really isn't up to the task with certain tables - particularly with some of the camera views on the busier tables. Camera settings are good but the genre really needed the leap to 360/PS3 before getting good enough. The simpler tables work well enough though and with the more complex table it's a question of learning them sufficiently.

Quite fond of the genre generally so this is a pleasing surprise as it holds up well. Going back to it after several years I thought it might have waned.

My latest toy

I got this for a few reasons.

Sega Ages Series - some of these are expensive now but they are very collectable and look great play value-wise.
2D shooters - my favourite genre - some superb games available and I thought it high time to dip in before prices go mad.
Japanese PS1 library - another rich seam

So far I have procured these:
Sega Ages : Fantasy Zone - one of my favourite hori-shooter series. I have the Saturn version but this adds in a nice updated version and a challenge mode.
Sega Ages : Tetris - last word in Sega Tetris - every conceivable version with every option and mode. With a New Century version with modern additions and features. Coded my M2 themselves - the meisters of ports. Tetris is minor obsession of mine - I have a good sized collection of Tetris games.
DoDonPachi DOJ - considered by many as "the best shooter ever". Gorgeous port by Arika with extra modes. TATE too. and a superplay DVD included
Espgaluda - another lovely job from Arika. Extra modes. Superplay DVD.

JP-PS1:
Gradius Gaiden - widely considered as the best entry in the series. Superb game.
Xevious 3D/G+ - lovely Xevious compilation with original, Super, Arrangement and a semi-3D remake which is actually good - using nice clean polys and textures meaning it has aged well.
Space Invaders 2000 - continuing my Space Invader collection. Just a nice basic port with a time attack mode and a 2 player versus mode.

On the lookout for more. Raiden DX, Castle Shikigami 2 in my sights next.

Always sad to hear about this. Even though I have no arcade near me I was always comforted that somewhere in the world they were financially viable..

https://www.otaquest.com/kawasaki-warehouse-closing/


I wonder who will be buying up all those cabinets....

Plenty of candy cabs for sale anyhow.

Have had a US 2600 for a few years now.

I bought it originally in the mistaken belief I could use it with my CRT in the UK with an RF connection. My plan was to use it with my Harmony cart loaded with a full ROM set and then make a small collection of CIB copies of my favourites.

It's a 4 switch woody and when it arrived it wasn't in as nice a condition as described. It's OK - just not great. The switches were pretty seized up. The difficulty switches at the back were jammed - got one working and one snapped off. I can still adjust it with a screwdriver but it needs replaced. Its the P2 switch so will be rarely used - but still - I was pretty pissed off.

I complained on eBay and I got a refund to almost the full value.

So when I realised the UK TV tuners wouldn't pick it up I got it modded for composite. Bought a kit online and got a local electronics repair shop to do the mod.

Got that done and got a really nice clean picture - but - only in b&w.  The instructions with the kit stated there was a colour pot to adjust but it didn't seem to make any difference.

Bought a composite NTSC - PAL converter. Didn't work.

Tried it with several TVs , modern - even a projector - nothing. Still black and white.

So I put it away. The idea was to make it a project. Learn to solder - replace the diff switch and maybe recap it if that would sort the colour problem.

Lay for a 3-4 years.

Recently got a couple of "new" CRTs after my old one died. Thought maybe I'd try again.

Rigged it up - still b&w.

Opened it up and tweaked the colour pot again - and - colour!!!!!!!

Delighted.

But there is some interference on the image - diagonal stripes. Seems to be affected by sounds too. It's not a huge deal - is more noticable on certain games than others. Still would likeit sorted.

After some poking around on forums - it seems to be an interference thing - poor shielding on cables - and some power supplies can cause it.

The power supply is pretty old and the cables I'm using are cheap so I'm going to try that out.



I also have a 6 switch woody PAL unit with an RF connection that gives me a sweet image on my CRT. I have a pile of PAL60 ROMs of my favourite games on the Harmony so I always have that as a backup.

If I sort the interference out I may consider replacing the diff switch.

Just thought I'd post here and update from time to time.

May start posting more about some hidden gems I find in the huge NTSC ROM archive I have. 

I'm playing a fair bit of these now. To be honest it's always been my favourite genre and I'm starting to abandon most other genres - at least - for regular playing.

I'm trying to get 1CCs on some of my favourites (getting to the end without using continuing).

Here's a video of the first one I recorded - Darius Gaiden - recorded the INP file played back directly off the screen so excuse the image quality.  I've 1CCed this game both on Saturn and shumpMAME now.

I've always kept a CRT for my retro consoles.

Recently my lovely 25" 4:3 Panasonic packed in - the horror!

I found a local CRT repair guy ane left it with him - unfortunately he identified the part required which couldn't be located any more

But he did sell me a 21" Panasonic for £40 so I took that. It was bittersweet dropping my old one off at the recycling centre.

The 21" is gorgeous though. The screen is smaller but it seems more vibrant. It's still the classic 4:3 shape too.

SO I had that set up and then noticed another one for free on Facebook market.

Picked it up Thursday and wow - it's a 28" 4:3 Samsung. A monster of a thing and it's GREAT!

SO I have rotated my 21" to play shooting games with a TATE mode and use the Samsung for all the other retro games.

The old 2600 hooked up via RF - looks great! The Samsung's tuner may be superior to my old Panasonic. The 2600 looked good on it but not as good as this - of course it might just be the bigger, brighter screen that is causing this.

I'm in heaven!

At some point I will admit defeat and get an OSSC to connect them up using HDMI - but not as long as these two beauties keep working. 

My beloved 25" 4:3 CRT with RGB SCART and s-video has died on me!!

I have found a local electronics repair guy who works on CRTs so hoping he can sort it for me,

If not I need to think about getting an upscalar. The OSSC is the front runner at present.

For now though - keeping my fingers crossed. The guy is very bust right now but he'll text me when he's cleared his backlog.

Picked these up today - £7 the lot. There's others on offer too - a 2600 console one, 2600 Asteroids (which shows the boxart when heated up). There's Pacman going too and some modern game themed ones.

Great for the office.

Got this off an eBay seller.

MUSHA is a damn expensive game - £400 or so original CIB. No way I could justify that and I don't really like ROMs.

Here's a decent compromise. £25 delivered. There may be better offers than that but I took a punt.

First off - the game works great. It's a cracking game  - a rock solid 2D shooter. The box feels a bit cheap but I suppose I could harvest one from a cheap game. The cart looks fine as does the manual. The print inside the manual is the weakest thing but it's readable. Overall - I'd do this again if I want some really expensive game - Snow Bros and Wardner for example.

[SNES]

Had a bit of a prune of my collection a while back (around 250 games I sold). I used the money to partially fund the purchase of my Asteroids Deluxe cabinet. My old website where I hosted my pics was Virgin and they dropped that service a year ago or so. So starting again.

SNES
I own a modded SNES that lets me play any region and it has a 50/60Hz selector. So I play most of my PAL games at 60Hz. Those that don't work at 60Hz I have swapped for NTSC versions. I've tended to go for US versions to avoid any language barrier.

PAL Battletoads glitches at 60Hz. I only keep this for collecting purposes. I play the US version which I own cart only.


Pilotwings is the US version.


Space Invaders is US-NTSC.


PAL Super Mario World glitches at 60Hz. I only keep this for collecting purposes.


Tetris & Dr. Mario is US-NTSC.




Here's a selection of Tetris games for the Super Famicom. No language problems here.
With my US copy of Tetris & Dr. Mario I think I have all Tetris games for the SNES.
The black box version of Tetris 2 + Bombliss is the limited edition that was a later release. It has extra puzzles and remixed music.


Caravan Shooting Collection is a compilation of 3 NES shmups with improved scrolling and no flicker.

Made an account of my adventures importing a classic Atari game from the US.

It's a happy ending so hopefully it will embolden someone to do this.

http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/importing-a-classic-arcade-machine-into-the-uk/

Any comments and questions, just fire away!