Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Atari 2600

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 12-03-2004, 01:27 PM:

Has anyone seen the new retro TV games available at toy stores or Wal Mart? They hook up to the A/V inputs on your TV set. It's a replica of an Atari 2600 joystick with several Atari games loaded in the firmware. I've got 3 of them, with 10 games each, including Pong, Breakout, Circus Atari, Atlantis, Pac-Man, and my personal favorite, Pitfall. I'm addicted to them. Has anyone used them and want to give their opinion?

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-03-2004, 01:35 PM:

I might buy one of these if it let you use a paddle controller for the games that used that; I don't see the point of playing Pong or Breakout with a joystick. There's a number of old games that used trac-balls that have newer conversions that are played with joysticks also.
I have a Colecovision system with the adaptor to play the Atari 2600 games which I used to keep under my TV, but when I added a center channel and subwoofer I didn't have room for it there anymore and have to drag it out whenever I want to play it. (You haven't lived til you've played Atari 2600 Space Invaders with a subwoofer!)

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 12-03-2004, 01:45 PM:

They have Pong available with both a joystick and a paddle. The paddle is far superior.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-03-2004, 05:03 PM:

If I ever cave in and buy an X-Box, I'll get the Arcade Treasures volumes 1 and 2 from Midway. They have very accurate recreations of coin-op classics like Robotron, Joust, Defender, NARC, Smash TV, Spy Hunter, the original Mortal Kombat game and more.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-03-2004, 05:10 PM:

You can download the ROMS and emulators for all those classic coin-op games and the 2600 from several sites on the inet and play them on your PC.

I also like playing the old Scott Adams text "Adventure" games from the 80's that are also available on his site.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-03-2004, 07:16 PM:

Phil, do you have some of those links handy? I have a TI-99/4A emulator on my computer. Man, did that bring back some memories!

Posted by Chris Trainor (Member # 9) on 12-03-2004, 09:11 PM:

Bobby: I got that set for my PS-2 and love it... [Smile]

Play those old games more then I play the new stuff... I've blown hours on Gauntlet and SpyHunter. [Smile]

--Chris

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-03-2004, 09:41 PM:

Careful guys. While we can permit links to emulators without problem, we have to ask that you please don't post any links to the actual game ROMs or ROM sites. Don't get me wrong, I love emulation myself, but ROMs are copyrighted material and could be bad news if links to them were posted here.

Thanks and have a fantastic day! [Big Grin]

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-03-2004, 10:05 PM:

Linkage:

MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator), the most popular arcade hardware emulator out there

Stella (awesome Atari 2600 Emulator)

Various NES emulators (NESticle is my preferred one)

Various SNES emulators

Various N64 Emulators

Various GameBoy Emulators

Various TurboGrafx16 Emulators

Various Sega Master System/Game Gear Emulators

Various Sega Genesis/CD/32X Emulators

As for the ROMs, Joe said we cannot link them, so I won't.

They are out there: Start Googling! [Smile]

-Aaron

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-03-2004, 11:22 PM:

I have an Atari 2600 emulator on my Samsung i700 Verizon PDA phone. Very handy when you're sitting in a boring old stuffy meeting - what do you do? How about play River Raid? [Big Grin]

Tim, I used to love my TI-99/4a. That's what got me started in computers... programming in TI BASIC and EXTENDED BASIC! [Smile]

Great fun for a 10 year old!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-03-2004, 11:24 PM:

MAME is absolutely awesome. What I hate, though, is that you update and suddenly half of your games no longer work. The current version seems to have huge trouble recognizing USB joypads properly.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-04-2004, 12:55 PM:

quote: Mark J. Marshall
Tim, I used to love my TI-99/4a. That's what got me started in computers...

Me, too! That was my first computer. A friend showed me a TI-99/4, and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. So I went out to buy one, and the 4A had just hit the stores.

I can remember paying over $100 for an Extended Basic cartridge! Gee-whiz!

(And thanks for the links, Aaron!)

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-04-2004, 12:59 PM:

I'm too computer-illiterate to play games on a PC. I like playing them on my 40-inch screen with surround sound anyway (of course old games I keep the sound in the center channel, none of that fake stereo crap for me!)
I bought a PS2 since I needed a backup DVD player, but also so I could get the Namco Museum discs. There were 5 volumes originally but only 2 are still in print! Then they put out a Playtstation 2 version of the Namco Museum, but only included about 6 games, when a DVD-ROM could have easily held the ones included on the 5 original CDs! They did a much better job on the Activision Classics disc, which essentially turns your PS2 back into an Atari 2600. There's some TV commercials for the games that you can unlock if you get a certain high score, it's in some proprietary video format so I can't put them on a regular DVD [Mad]

I've got some other old game system commercials taped off the air though (oldest being for the 2600 clone Sears Video Arcade from 1977), I need to compile all those onto a DVD.
I was a video-game nut back in the day, but I just can't get into the new games. There's too many buttons to keep track of, and I never liked the ones where you have several weapons and have to pick the best one for the job. I always get killed while trying to remember where the weapons-select button is. I'll take Galaxian any day.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-04-2004, 01:19 PM:

Miday's web site (www.midway.com) has some of the classic Williams Electronics games available there to play for free. You have to use the Macromedia Shockwave Arcade plug-in to play them. They are very accurate reproductions of the coin-op versions. This might be an alternative for those who don't want to put in a little extra work installing MAME and searching for ROMs.

For Robotron, I use a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro USB joystick for move functions and then use combinations of the 4, 8, 6 and 2 keys on the keyboard for shooting in 8 directions. It takes a little getting used to at first, but I have "rolled" Robotron (scoring over 10 million) doing it.

Posted by Darren Crimmins (Member # 1116) on 12-05-2004, 05:34 PM:

I have my original Atari 2600 that I just play my old games on. You don't have to worry about converting on a computer if you still have the orginal machine. Classic joysticks, paddles and all!

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 12-06-2004, 02:23 AM:

quote: Brandon Willis
Has anyone seen the new retro TV games available at toy stores or Wal Mart? They hook up to the A/V inputs on your TV set. It's a replica of an Atari 2600 joystick with several Atari games loaded in the firmware.

I've seen a lot of those around; they're apparently very successful. The attraction seems to be the design of just carrying the joystick around, then you can just plug it into the A/V inputs of some Tv where you've got to kill time. No consoles, forests of wires, cartridges, etc.

Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 12-06-2004, 08:11 AM:

My little brother talked my folks into getting the Atari joystick one for him several months ago. He likes it a bunch, even though he gets mighty frustrated with most of the games. But considering that he's not quite seven years old yet, he does ok.

I have to admit that I've logged a good number of hours with it playing Asteroids. [Big Grin]

We still have our old Colecovision, with the Atari expansion module, but alas, they no longer work! Spent a bit too much time in storage I think. I imagine that a good thorough cleaning and a 100% funcional power adapter would do the trick... but that damned power adapter is a freak amongst its kind!

I picked up a plug-n-play gizmo for myself not too long ago. The only one I've seen thus far that comes with two controllers… TETRIS!!
It's pretty cool, although the controllers aren't very comfortable to hold & operate. They are similar to the Coleco controllers in shape and size, but I think that the Coleco ones were a little smaller. So my having big hands (for a girl at least) is useful in that case. [Wink]

In a related note - there is a game that's out called Intellivision Lives - I know it's available for the Xbox, I don't know about any other systems. It's a good way to kill several hours, it has every Intellivision game I remembered, and quite a few that I did not! I still say that Astrosmash was one of the best games for that system.
Yup, our old Intellivision doesn't work either. [Razz]

Being a geek is fun. [beer]

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-06-2004, 11:12 AM:

Joysticks that plug into the TV? Emulators on the PC?? Atari 2600? BAH!! [puke]

I still have my original Atari 400 (which had FAR supirior graphics to the 2600, and better sound - it could play more than 1 note at a time) with all my games and controllers and that wonderful "membrane" keyboard! [thumbsup]

Before my old house got wrecked, I used to play it all the time in the screening room with the subwoofer on. When Pac-Man would eat a ghost and that, BBBBRRRRRTTTTTUT TUT TUT TUT! sound came on, the room would shake.

NOW you're playing with POWER! [Cool]

=TMP=

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-06-2004, 03:08 PM:

Hot tip, Tom: There are several really good freeware Atari 800/400 PC emulators and games available on the net too.

One of my favorites is "M.U.L.E."... Great game!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-07-2004, 02:21 AM:

I went to the Midway site (thanks Bobby) and spent about an hour playing Defender, probably one of the greatest games of all time and one of my favorites. The controls are impossible to replicate on a keyboard, though....the real game had an up-down lever and five buttons. The biggest problem is, you can't thrust and move up and down at the same time, so ship control is not near as precise as on the real game.

But it still kicks serious ass.

[ 12-07-2004, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Mike Blakesley ]

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 12-07-2004, 04:57 AM:

I wouldn't know what I know today about BASIC programming if it weren't for our Atari 800. Gosub Return Gosub Return ... I miss those days.

As for the 2600, Adventure was downright the best game ever. Oh, and I think I was addicted to the Miniature Golf, too. Hmmm, now that I think about it, Air/Sea Battle ruled!!! (I shouldn't have got myself started.)

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-07-2004, 11:19 PM:

I've seen a lot of these "Atari controller" style video games hooked to TVs in department stores and have noticed quite a few of them malfunctioning. They seem to be very cheaply made. I wouldn't want to spend much money for one. Also, there is a kiosk at our mall selling a controller that has an entire Nintendo built in with a bunch of games, like Super Mario Brothers, or some slightly altered version of it. I played one of these and found that the controller didn't work very well. Also, one I played would not move to the right properly. I'll bet most of these would not last very long before becoming junk.