I still have my Atari 2600. The joysticks are shot though. They suffered from the same crappy design flaw that the Coleco Intellivision controllers had, using a bubble membrane as a contact. The Intellivision controller (for those too young to remember) had these bubble membrane buttons that would eventually loose their shape over extended usage. Eventually even mashing them down no longer worked.
The 2600's joysticks used these same type of contacts inside the joystick housing. They too would eventually wear down making extra work to move objects/characters left, right, up, down, etc. The Raiders of the Lost Ark game was the most susceptible to this at one critical point in the game, which frustrated me to no end..
@ackthbbft: There's the wall you can go through and see the programmer's name. Wasn't aware of a dot though. And yeah, I believe it is the first game known to have an easter egg. At the time, Atari didn't let programmers have their name on the game, so the programmer made his name in a secret room.
I had intellivision so I was in the minority among my friends. The Basketball game rocked. And I remember playing a Space game with my dad before watching the original BattleStar Galactica with him!
The first of many tech products that was probably better and maybe should've been cooler. But, at least in my parts, was most definitely and inexplicably lamer and would absolutely get you made fun of.
@92BuickLeSabre: Was it lamer in comparison to the Atari 2600 or the Colecovision? Or both? I've owned all three as a collector but I'm too young to remember popular opinion at the time.
@robjennings: It was an age where anything that was different was inherently less cool. (And, of course, I mean age like 5-10 years old, not age like "the video game age").
So all you kids with the fancier doohickeys or the programmable whatsidoodles may have thought you were cooler, but what you were was different, and different is scary to a child (or child-like adult). Different didn't become cooler until you went to college. (And even then it depended on what college you went to.)
Personally, I would sneak off to my nerd friends' houses to play their better, less cool systems. But in my house, it was Atari all the way.
@92BuickLeSabre: My friends had colecovision and I didn't think it was that great. The controller was weird. The only game I recall being decent was baseball.. But your right. I did get a lot of shit for having Intelivision!!
In the mid-to-late-70s I had a game similar to Duck Hunt, but it used a gun to shoot at ghosts that were also projected from the gun. I think it may have been called "Ghost Blaster," but I can't find anything about it using Google.
@CSX321: So the target is projected from the weapon? You can't miss! That sounds like a game where everybody wins.. I thought that idea only plagued kids of today.
@Skeetz: The gun swiveled in the middle, so that the front part projected the ghosts, and the back part was used to aim and had the trigger. It never worked real well, as you can imagine.
I must admit, I never knew Duck Hunt existed before the NES. I've been trying to find screenshots or videos of this old version but I still can't find anything. I did run into this though which I really want to play (but probably shouldn't since I'm at work).
.. and how badly is he playing if he hasn't cleared at least 2 of those 6 bottom rows by now. (I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that he's waiting for a straight piece for the other 4).
Also the space invaders guy isn't firing through his own shields.
07/14/09
The 2600's joysticks used these same type of contacts inside the joystick housing. They too would eventually wear down making extra work to move objects/characters left, right, up, down, etc. The Raiders of the Lost Ark game was the most susceptible to this at one critical point in the game, which frustrated me to no end..
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The first of many tech products that was probably better and maybe should've been cooler. But, at least in my parts, was most definitely and inexplicably lamer and would absolutely get you made fun of.
Intellivision! Ha!
07/13/09
07/13/09
So all you kids with the fancier doohickeys or the programmable whatsidoodles may have thought you were cooler, but what you were was different, and different is scary to a child (or child-like adult). Different didn't become cooler until you went to college. (And even then it depended on what college you went to.)
Personally, I would sneak off to my nerd friends' houses to play their better, less cool systems. But in my house, it was Atari all the way.
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Adventure also had the first Easter Egg!
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Ah, here it is! "Ghost Gun" it was called.
07/13/09
Hours and hours were spent trying to get those two little guys around each other at my house.
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Duck Hunt
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.. and how badly is he playing if he hasn't cleared at least 2 of those 6 bottom rows by now. (I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that he's waiting for a straight piece for the other 4).
Also the space invaders guy isn't firing through his own shields.
02/09/09
02/09/09
But I won't. Ever. Under any circumstances. (It's even stipulated in my will: do NOT bury me in a suit and tie.)