Atari 2600

[JoOngle]

I just fixed up my Old Atari 2600 video game system (it's from the early 80s late 70s) and really brings back those 80s memories.

These thing seem to last forever, I think that system is 34 years by now, and it IS a computer, albeit a game console - but a computer nonetheless, and it's older than my Commodore 64.

I recently purchased some retro cartridges for it, and it still works, just needed a power supply and an old 80s television set (doesn't work on my newer TVs, the new TVs can't find the channel it's on for some reason).

This is how they look:

And these are the games I got from eBay for it (mostly those I had in the 80s myself):

Etc...

Fun stuff, makes me feel like "Ricky" when I hang around my fav. pad & neighborhood. Too bad I'm a 40+ stuck-in-the-past (don't get me wrong, I work in an Ad-agency with 3D-Animation...) but...

...still stuck in the 80s in my spare time, whenever I can.

 

 

[RayPeterson]

Yeah this is cool stuff. A couple of years ago I dug out my Amiga 500 out of the cellar and tried to play my old games. Unfortunately the Joysticks weren't working but I got those good old classic Amiga 500 Joysticks on ebay and then went on to play my old games. It was a time when I was still studying but it was the summer semester break and I was playing until the morning light. *Sigh*, that was great. Made me feel like being a child again. Even those C-grade games were fun to play.

I guess sometimes I just need (waving arms)...THIS!

Oh by the way you included a screenshot of E.T. which some people vote to be among the worst videogames of all time. Is it really that bad?

 

[JoOngle]

<span class="postlistquotedtext"><blockquote>quote:<center><hr width="100%"/></center>RayPeterson wrote:
Oh by the way you included a screenshot of E.T. which some people vote to be among the worst videogames of all time. Is it really that bad?<center><hr width="100%"/></center></blockquote></span>

Not by far, but the fail was probably the instructions (or lack thereof) in the olden days, I got one in 1982 (before the movie was shown in Norway), and had absolutely NO clue what the game was all about, I didn't even know what to do, but loved the advanced multiple-level graphics which where unheard of on the Atari back then.

Today I totally get it, but it's still a very hard game to play, most of the times when you try to get the phone built, you'll have the parts taken away from you when a scientist pops up just 1 sec. away from you, and you'll have to look trough several (fall) holes again and again, until you're out of M&M's which you better give away to Elliot if you want him to bring you back to life again, and when you've collected all the phone parts, you must find the "call-mothership" sport, and wait for the clock to finish, rush off to the landing spot (yes, you must find that one too in time) and wait for it....waaaait for it.....game over!

Amiga rocks, I've had every Amiga ever made (afaik), A500,A600,A1200,A1500,A2000,A2500,A3000,A4000...oh wait...I couldn't afford the A4000 back then...and I've also had the illustrious Amiga 1000 that has all the handwritten signatures melted into it's cover when you open it up

Oh...speaking of defective joysticks, of course my 34 old Atar joystick didn't work, it was broken in more ways than you may want to imagine:

1) The cable was broken, had to cut off the original 9-pin connector and fit a 9-pin serial connector instead.

2) Almost ALL the switches inside the Atari joystick was corroded (dark/green corrosion on the contacts), I removed the transparent film covering and holding the buttons in place, sandpapered the contacts, and laid new transparent film on top and carefully placed the metal connectors on top of the PCB-connectors. I just used transparent packaging tape, worked fine.

3) The middle bridge (the plastic thingy that peeks up from the bottom of the joystick to hold the joystick firmly in place, was of course broken too. So I screwed a SCREW that had a rounded-top in its place, so now it's super solid and will probably never break again. (It was probably designed to get broken, so you eventually had to buy new ones).

Your Amiga joysticks most likely have either broken cables just like mine, and for switches it most likely has micro switches (these rarely ever break, so you probably won't have to fix those, ever), but the fire buttons are sometimes just cheap switch connectors (two blades and a spring), and sometimes need to be sanded and "re-bent" into place in order to give proper connection, but check your cable first.

You need a multimeter to fix the cable, a soldering iron, some solder and a 9-pin serial connector (looks like the following):

You can get these on eBay for pennies.

Here's the connector specs (so you don't mess up your soldering...one of them are 5v so don't short that to ground)

http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Mouse/Joystick_Amiga_9_pin

The above link shows you how it's connected. It's piece of cake to fix, so you could do it yourself with the new tools your father gave you. Are you going to build something with those?

 

[Pathologist]

This is pure gold! I love when JoOngle comes up with these great 80s flashbacks!

As you may know I'm a huge fan of the 80s, being born in 85 I was not old enough to enjoy all the stuff but I sure love it!

The movies, games, music, clothes, and view of life!

Thanks for this great thread, brings back some memories of me and my friend playing on his commendore 64

 

[Rays_Yard]

Ah the Atari 2600. Loved it. We spent hours playing those games. I see you have screen shots of Pac Man and ET. The Pac Man was god-awful. I remember waiting for Atari to release pac man for the 2600 and being very disapointed. I remember it flashing alot and caused me headaches. But there were so many other great games on the 2600 also. Kaboom, Berzerk, Adventure, Yars Revenge and so on. Ah the good old days.

Nice post JoOngle.

p.s. ET and Action 52 are the worst video games ever made.

 

[RayPeterson]

Thanks for the tips JoOngle but I'm not so much into building things, even with the new tools my girlfriend's father gave me for christmas.

Those AMIGA "Competition Pro" joysticks were extremely cheap. Probably you know them, they were the classic AMIGA 500 joysticks:

 

[JoOngle]

You can repair it. It's probably just a broken cable anyway as those competition pro's where nearly indestructible.

We who sold those at the Amiga store, used to throw them HARD down into the floor just to prove to our customers that - these joysticks simply can't be destroyed. For the TIME that was indeed right, they're built like a tank.

But as all things...must come to an end, things AGE - just like people...strangely enough people age slower than things, but as I said...fix the cable, and it'll probably be okay.

Heck...you can probably buy an entirely new cable for it with plug and all on the internet (eBay is your friend)....