Kid Ice
07-26-2003, 06:06 PM
Today I finally got around to a task that I've been putting off for a long time. A few months back, I inventoried my 2600 collection and separated everything into 3 piles:
1) carts I'm keeping for my collection
2) doubles in good enough shape for ebay
3) "dent n scratch" doubles (which I eventually gave away)
So this box of doubles from the #2 category has been sitting around my office for months. Since I have at least six 2600 consoles around (not to mention a 2600 jr. and a 7800), I thought I might pull one of those suckers out, polish it up, round up some controllers, and put it out on ebay with that box of about 50 (some uncommon!) doubles.
Today I finally went to work. I pulled a six switch out of the closet, found the switch box (w/ the coaxial adapter), a power cord, a bunch of paddles, a few joysticks, and a couple of keypads. I took that and my big box of doubles downstairs and went to work.
I had it set up in, literally, less than a minute. The machine worked flawlessly. Each game I popped in worked the first time. There were no funny lines on the screen or anything like that. The sound was perfect; no buzzing, no hissing. The joystick was perfect. It had a little play in it; some 2600 joysticks tend to be on the stiff side.
I popped em in one after the other. River Raid. Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Jr. Frankensteins Monster. Asteroids. Hours passed.
It finally occured to me that, not counting the last couple Phillyclassics, I haven't played 2600 games on a 2600 using a 2600 joystick in over 10 years. I've either played them on my 7800 (using a Genesis controller), or played them emulated.
Normally, when I play a 2600 game on an emulator, the experience is over in ten minutes, I crack a smile and think "those were the days", and then I move on. That's not what happened today. Today I had a real Atari experience. I noticed things I never noticed before. The background music in Asteroids. Donkey Kong - underrated -it's much faster paced than the arcade game. Donkey Kong Jr. has three different levels!
Last night I played the PS2 version of Hitman 2 for the first time. I played it for about 2 1/2 hours. I spent about a 1/2 hour of that time learning the controls, and about an hour lost. Take the remaining hour and subtract the time spent on loading screens, cut-scenes, saving, loading, replaying parts I screwed up, backtracking, etc. Not much gameplay there.
I spent roughly the same amount of time playing the 2600 games, and spent almost every second of that time PLAYING.
I just typed "I'm not putting down the new games", and had to edit that, because I am. I'm really disappointed in the current generation of games. The early Dreamcast games promised a bright future that just hasn't come to pass. There is not a single game in the works that I'm anticipating. My mental game calendar has disappeared from lack of use. I've had enough Gran Tursimos and Tony Hawks, thanks.
Well...now I'm really straying off topic...what I'm trying to get to is, the emulators just don't do it. They're fine for arcade games (how else are you supposed to play Juno First or R-Type Leo?) But they are so lacking when it comes to console games. They're missing something that can't be replaced.
So the ebay lot is not happening. I can't give a good reason why not. I have doubles or more of all the carts and hardware. Something mysterious is holding me back; the experience I had today is too good for ebay. Maybe at next year's Phillyclassic I'll find someone (preferably a young someone) who will appreciate it. I'd just feel much better letting it go that way.
1) carts I'm keeping for my collection
2) doubles in good enough shape for ebay
3) "dent n scratch" doubles (which I eventually gave away)
So this box of doubles from the #2 category has been sitting around my office for months. Since I have at least six 2600 consoles around (not to mention a 2600 jr. and a 7800), I thought I might pull one of those suckers out, polish it up, round up some controllers, and put it out on ebay with that box of about 50 (some uncommon!) doubles.
Today I finally went to work. I pulled a six switch out of the closet, found the switch box (w/ the coaxial adapter), a power cord, a bunch of paddles, a few joysticks, and a couple of keypads. I took that and my big box of doubles downstairs and went to work.
I had it set up in, literally, less than a minute. The machine worked flawlessly. Each game I popped in worked the first time. There were no funny lines on the screen or anything like that. The sound was perfect; no buzzing, no hissing. The joystick was perfect. It had a little play in it; some 2600 joysticks tend to be on the stiff side.
I popped em in one after the other. River Raid. Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong Jr. Frankensteins Monster. Asteroids. Hours passed.
It finally occured to me that, not counting the last couple Phillyclassics, I haven't played 2600 games on a 2600 using a 2600 joystick in over 10 years. I've either played them on my 7800 (using a Genesis controller), or played them emulated.
Normally, when I play a 2600 game on an emulator, the experience is over in ten minutes, I crack a smile and think "those were the days", and then I move on. That's not what happened today. Today I had a real Atari experience. I noticed things I never noticed before. The background music in Asteroids. Donkey Kong - underrated -it's much faster paced than the arcade game. Donkey Kong Jr. has three different levels!
Last night I played the PS2 version of Hitman 2 for the first time. I played it for about 2 1/2 hours. I spent about a 1/2 hour of that time learning the controls, and about an hour lost. Take the remaining hour and subtract the time spent on loading screens, cut-scenes, saving, loading, replaying parts I screwed up, backtracking, etc. Not much gameplay there.
I spent roughly the same amount of time playing the 2600 games, and spent almost every second of that time PLAYING.
I just typed "I'm not putting down the new games", and had to edit that, because I am. I'm really disappointed in the current generation of games. The early Dreamcast games promised a bright future that just hasn't come to pass. There is not a single game in the works that I'm anticipating. My mental game calendar has disappeared from lack of use. I've had enough Gran Tursimos and Tony Hawks, thanks.
Well...now I'm really straying off topic...what I'm trying to get to is, the emulators just don't do it. They're fine for arcade games (how else are you supposed to play Juno First or R-Type Leo?) But they are so lacking when it comes to console games. They're missing something that can't be replaced.
So the ebay lot is not happening. I can't give a good reason why not. I have doubles or more of all the carts and hardware. Something mysterious is holding me back; the experience I had today is too good for ebay. Maybe at next year's Phillyclassic I'll find someone (preferably a young someone) who will appreciate it. I'd just feel much better letting it go that way.