Atari 2600 package complete, just in time for Christmas

I grew up in the NES era and I have no nostalgia for the Atari 2600. Heck, I don't even like Atari (the company), and the more I read about the company, the more I hate them. But today my Sega Genesis controller arrived (it's compatible with the 2600 without modification) and I have to say I'm enjoying those wacky games with primitive graphics and no music quite a bit. The thoughts in my mind are not, "Man, this is just like I remembered," but rather,

• "People must have been easily entertained in the '70s." 
• "I'm having to use my imagination quite a bit with these graphics." 
• "I'm actually quite impressed with what they did with these graphics."
• "I like seeing how big of a difference there was between arcades and home consoles at the time."
• "I'm not expecting to see an ending screen any time soon" (indeed, these games just got harder and harder until the game forced you to lose), and, 
• "There's no way I can mess this up with only one button on the controller." 

The Atari 2600 controller is pretty awful, but the Genesis controller, while still a bit stiffer than my Saturn controller, makes the Atari 2600 feel like a real console. And appreciating it for what it is and was, it's pretty fun and amazing. I might have to thank James Rolfe for steering me in the right direction.

Why did I buy an Atari 2600? Ostensibly for my brother for Christmas, but it's really for me and my brother for Christmas. I won the eBay auction (console, original power supply, two joysticks, paddles, games, and their manuals) by sniping with a max bid of $66.67, but I ended up paying just under 50 bucks. (50 BUCKS!) Free shipping.

When it came, there was a bunch of rattling. There actually wasn't any packing material! Also, the power supply was missing, one of the joysticks was broken, and one of the paddles was broken, but since the paddles came in pairs, both were worthless to me. I messaged the eBay seller and he was very apologetic and sent me the rest of the stuff and a game he forgot to include the first time around, and later on sent me replacement paddles. Driving paddles, so I still need to shell out for the regular paddles, but whatever. I spent an extra $6 or so getting a coaxial adapter, which apparently could be had for $1 or so, but it was still cheap enough so whatever. My Sega Genesis controller was under $10 shipped, so that was cool too. I'll keep the broken joystick if I ever want to mod my NES controller for the Atari 2600 like this guy.

The manuals are pretty useful to have because of the switches for the difficulty settings (a concept which I'm still wrapping my head around). Luckily Atari Age comes through for this. I can't believe how many variations Space Invaders has!

What's left? Get the system modded for s-video, pause, and LEDs, buy adequate storage for games, collect more games like Pac-Man 4K, and maybe learn how to get started on building a custom joystick for all my legacy consoles. Foehammer looks good for this purpose.

Weird-ass dream (2013.12.13)

I dreamt I was popular.

Was kinda nice, actually...

Embracing the YouTube / Google Plus Integration

I don't care what anyone says; this new YouTube / Google Plus integration is great! It gives those of us whose accounts were banned (which is, to say, all of us) a second chance, and now I might actually purchase movies and other videos on YouTube.

Here's my first video on my main account.

Getting my free PS+ PS4 games without a PS4

I doubt I'll be getting a PS4 anytime soon, but that doesn't mean I can't get my free PlayStation Plus games for that system right now. I just have to go to the Web site:

http://us.playstation.com/psn/playstation-store/

NES-101 Nintendo Top Loader

I went eBay-shopping and last Saturday (2013.11.16) I finally got my hands on an NES-101 Nintendo Top Loader for the very reasonable price of $71.49 shipped. It didn't come with the RF adapter or power adapter, but I was able to use the SNES RF adapter that was part of the "broken SNES" package I got on eBay some time earlier. For power, I was just using the old NES power adapter (they're compatible, of course).

I didn't get a "dog bone" NES controller, but I did get an NES Max, which... is interesting. Great for Mega Man, OK for Super Mario, and bad for Tetris. My problem isn't the cycloid thing, it's the fact that I'm never quite sure how hard to press. I think I'll have to do the d-pad mod sooner than later.

So yeah, I jumped on the Buy It Now because it was cheap, in good condition (no cracks), it came with the NES Max which I was curious about, and it wasn't modded for AV output. Looking forward to having Game-Tech.US mod it with viletim's NESRGB. If it were AV-modded, the yellow would be a little farther than the red and white, and if those holes were repurposed for component, the red, green, and blue RCA jacks wouldn't be evenly spaced.

To capture from RF, I think I'm going to have to use my VCR (which I was going to attempt to repair) as a modulator so I can hook up the VCR to my DVDO Edge and record RF via composite. I'd like to get some high-quality captures of the unmodded NES top loader's vertical lines, and compare a few games between RF, the old toaster NES's composite, Wii Virtual Console via component (note to self: mention how to switch to 240p and vice versa), and in the future, the NESRGB's different color palettes.

Paging: Legendary gamer "dvdmth"

Playing Mega Man X Collection on the PS2 reminded me of that special time on the Mega Man X GameFAQs boards about a decade ago when some guy by the name of dvdmth posted all sorts of interesting passwords, tricks, and glitches. Eventually YouTube came along and I posted a video of some of these, but then my account got banned and my hard drive crashed.

I was able to find a lot of these passwords online, but I just couldn't find the Mega Man X3 password that gave X a red armor upgrade. The original topic is long gone, and that text document on my hard drive is long gone too.

So yeah... dvdmth, if you're out there, grace us all (or at least me) with your knowledge of Mega Man X... I understand you're a wizard at other games (like Zelda) as well...

-

Latest dvdmth sighting: 2018-03-30 (#26)
Latest dvdmth sighting: 2017-06-14 (#156)
Latest dvdmth sighting: 2009-11-28

Weird-ass dream (2013.10.15)

I dreamt I was touring with Kenichi Ebina in the AGT tour along with Jimmy Rose, Cami Bradley, and the others. Like I was one of the finalists. I think my act was a magic act or something...