"state something completely random time!"

[JCU]

Oh yeah for sure. There were a lot of crappy games back then too.

Right around '84 or '85 one of our "big" arcades was already putting the Atari cabs (from '82 and '83 and older) way in the back on the way to the bathrooms. I always thought Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, etc.., deserved better unlike Start Wars and Gauntlet which seemed to be well received I guess for obvious reasons.

[Moirai]

Þe Atari 7800 is crappy but alſo amazing at þe ſame time.

[axel]

Right around '84 or '85 one of our "big" arcades was already putting the Atari cabs (from '82 and '83 and older) way in the back on the way to the bathrooms. I always thought Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, etc.., deserved better unlike Start Wars and Gauntlet which seemed to be well received I guess for obvious reasons.

I always liked Centipede, one of the pizza places near me had the cocktail version. Gauntlet I thought was really impressive for the time - four players, lots of sprites, high quality voice samples. Were you not a fan or you just wanted the older cabs to stay around longer?

[profholt82]

I've been playing the Atariage homebrew cart of Centipede recently. It's just a port of the regular 2600 edition, but it's programmed to be compatible with the trackball mode on the trackball controller. Total game changer, the way the game was meant to be played. It was one of those arcades that I played a ton of as a kid. Seemed like it was everywhere, even my dentist had one in his lobby I recall. Without the trackball, it's unplayable to me.

[axel]

I've been playing the Atariage homebrew cart of Centipede recently. It's just a port of the regular 2600 edition, but it's programmed to be compatible with the trackball mode on the trackball controller. Total game changer, the way the game was meant to be played. It was one of those arcades that I played a ton of as a kid. Seemed like it was everywhere, even my dentist had one in his lobby I recall. Without the trackball, it's unplayable to me.

Totally agree, it's the same with Missile Command or Marble Madness I don't feel like I'm really playing unless I'm using a trackball. I wish more games had been made for them but I get why it didn't happen, every trackball has to be opened up and cleaned periodically especially in a busy arcade.

[profholt82]

Yes. I've never played Marble Madness properly with a trackball, but I imagine that it would play much better that way. I had the NES port as a kid, and it controls surprisingly well with a d-pad however. But Missile Command is awesome with a trackball. I'm not sure how anyone could play it with a d-pad, beyond the first few waves anyway. I'll bet it would play well with a mouse though. Never tried that, but via emulation on a PC, I'd bet it would work great with a mouse.

The 2600 Trackball series from atariage is pretty great. I grabbed Centipede, Missile Command and Star Wars Arcade a while back, and playing them with proper trackball controls is awesome. I might grab a few more in the future. It makes that controller worth owning. The standard game carts only use the regular joystick mode, so the trackball goes to waste. So these reprogrammed versions are a game changer.

https://atariage.com/store/index.php...uct_list&c=110

[OverDrone]

40 users browsing this thread lol. Show yourselves!

My arcade had MM when I was a kid, and I thought it was awesome with the trackball - only thing was that it did pinch my tender young skin if I spun it to fast 😓

[JCU]

I always liked Centipede, one of the pizza places near me had the cocktail version. Gauntlet I thought was really impressive for the time - four players, lots of sprites, high quality voice samples. Were you not a fan or you just wanted the older cabs to stay around longer?

The relatively quick dismissal of the older Atari cabs was surprising. Centipede and Crystal Castles were good games but in a short few years those were tossed away like nothing in favor of games with more flash which I always found to be quite unfortunate. People seemed to always enjoy the Nintendo cabs though.

[gamevet]

I have a 2600 trackball that I got several years ago. I played Missile Command with it and I think that I tried to get Centipede to work, but it wouldn’t. I tried to play Crystal Castles on the C64 and it wouldn’t work right, but Centipede was not perfect. The next time I went to use it with the VCS, it would only register up/down movement. I think that one of the logic chips burned up. I ended up getting a trackball for the PlayStation so I could play those games on it.

Marble Madness works great with a joystick on the Amiga. The game's near arcade perfect and a button press simulates a backspin, like if it was seeing TB movement.

[Carl Sagan]

I took a pic of a few doggies playing at my backyard fence.

[axel]

I took a pic of a few doggies playing at my backyard fence.

I have used Photoshop so much that my first instinct upon seeing your photo is to hit CTRL-' to remove the grid.

[Carl Sagan]

I have used Photoshop so much that my first instinct upon seeing your photo is to hit CTRL-' to remove the grid.

It's a joke. I took that photo yesterday in the local zoo and those are supposed to be wolves. I thought someone would yell "What? These are not dogs but wolves! You have wolves walking around your backyard!"

[gamevet]

I’d be a bit concerned if I had wolves hanging around by my house.

[Leynos]

Brother lives in the hills of LA and sometimes you see big snakes and coyotes in his backyard. Tho seeing the photo made me think of a Zoo because of the fence.

[Carl Sagan]

Madonna should have had a game for Sega Genesis just like Michael Jackson had.