thegoldenband

The new year is underway, and it's time to move from the old thread to the new. We're now in our fifth year of the gameplay tracker! Come one, come all -- in this case, it's quite literally "the more, the merrier".

The basic idea is to post what games you played during each week, and for how long. You don't have to time it down to the minute, though some of us do -- estimates are acceptable. Then, at the end of the week, the statskeeper (that's me) totals everything up and we find out which platforms are seeing the most action!

Each week, we have top 10 lists for consoles and for individual games. We also have a separate top 10 list for games released on consoles before the NES. That way, arcade-style vintage gaming doesn't get totally lost in the shuffle of RPGs, collectathons, and other games that take 10+ hours to complete.

However, the #1 game for 2011 by a mile was the quintessential old-school VCS game, so the old consoles are more than holding their own!

Guidelines:

1. Be sure to list the system, the name of the game, and the length of time you play. If the game has any alternate titles by which it's better known (i.e. Air Sea Battle vs. Target Fun), please list them. If you list multiple games, please group them by system.

2. Each week runs Monday through Sunday (at midnight). The deadline for posting stats is now 3:00 PM (EST) on Monday to allow for different time zones.

3. Playing on actual game consoles is preferred although emulators are allowed. In some cases (homebrews in development) there is no alternative other than using an emulator.

4. Our cutoff year for consoles is 2000. That is, they have to have been released before 2000. This includes Dreamcast and N64, but excludes the most recent systems like PlayStation 2, XBox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, et al. You're welcome to mention gameplay on those systems, but as of now they won't be added to the tracker.

5. Arcade games up to A.D. 2000 are permitted. So are emulated compilations of arcade games for modern systems, as long as they're not rewritten or otherwise massively "updated" versions. If you play 45 minutes of Robotron via Midway Arcade Treasures for the XBox, those 45 minutes are counted towards the arcade game. When you're playing arcade compilations, be sure to list each game separately (don't just put "Midway Arcade Treasures - 45 min.")

6. You don't just have to post a bare list of times -- comments, stories, gripes, and helpful hints are always encouraged! If you're struggling with a level, got a new high score, or have some thoughts about what's great or what stinks about a particular game...well, that's the kind of stuff that makes this fun to read.

Some things you can do to make the statskeeper's life a bit easier:

- If you post a big list of games, please consider alphabetizing them first (after grouping them by console).

- Posting your times in minutes, rather than hours + minutes, makes things a little simpler.

- Even if you don't know the exact time, it's better to post a specific number and say it's an estimate. If you say you posted a bunch of games for "between 20 minutes and an hour", I'll just average everything out to 40 minutes, but it'd be better to have a sense of which games you played more and which ones you played less.

- If there's room for confusion or ambiguity, anything you do to resolve that in advance is much appreciated. I know that Air Sea Battle = Target Fun, but I may not know that Soldiers of Fortune = Chaos Engine.

That about covers it. I'll post the summary for 2011 in its thread shortly. Have fun!

I'm testing a couple dead AC adapters for the VCS right now (part numbers #CO16353 and #CO16353-101), and had a few questions:

1) If my multimeter (a Radio Shack Micronta 22-202A) is set to measure resistance, and I touch both prongs (across the wall wart itself) and get no movement of the needle, that means the transformer has failed and the adapter is toast, right? Just confirming that I'm correctly understanding the guide I'm reading (written by the excellent Ray Carlsen).

1a) Should I throw these out, or can some part of them be salvaged? The cable might be good for all I know. I don't plan to salvage them myself, but if someone else is able...

2) When I tested my good adapter, it did show continuity, but I was a little surprised by one thing. When I set the ohms range switch to RX1K (meaning a multiplier of 1000), and test across the prongs of the wall wart, the needle is pegged all the way to the right (resistance decreases as the meter goes rightward). When I diminish it to RX100, it goes slightly less far to the right, reading about 1, and when I set it to RX10, the needle ends up at 14. So, a resistance of 140 ohms, if I'm understanding correctly.

However, when I set the meter to RX1, meaning no multiplier, suddenly it's pegged all the way to the right again. Shouldn't it be hanging out around 140, i.e. mostly to the left? Am I doing something wrong?

3) I tried testing continuity between the prongs and the plug, and got nothing, so I'm assuming you can't test cable continuity in a wall wart without applying voltage from the mains. Is that correct? Since the transformers appear to be shot this isn't an issue right now, but having gotten a couple nasty shocks through the years I'm a little gunshy about live 120V...

Any tips on repairing a Wico Boss? I fired up my childhood Boss tonight, and found that all four joystick directions were spongy and only partially responsive. However, when I opened it up, I realized I wasn't really sure what I was looking at -- it certainly looked more mechanically complex than a CX-40 -- so I don't want to wade in until I know a little more.

Also, I'd like to try fixing my second TAC-2, which I picked up recently as part of a Shopgoodwill.com lot, and which has one nonworking direction. It uses a square screwhead, and I have a short bit that can open up the exposed screws, but it's not long enough to reach the recessed ones. What's the best place to get one of those? Or is there a common household item that can serve as a substitute in a pinch?

BTW I'm feeling pretty good about the way I spent this evening. I started out with a box I got from my brother, containing 4 CX-40s, the aforementioned Wico Boss, a Quickshot, and some paddles. All had problems -- typically one or two directions didn't work, or were barely responsive -- and were slated to be thrown out when my parents moved, but I told my brother not to toss them.

I haven't touched the paddles yet (and I'm sure they're jittery as heck), but so far I've salvaged two of the CX-40s and the Quickshot. One of the CX-40s feels perfect now, as does the Quickshot; the other CX-40 is quite playable, just a tiny bit stiff by comparison (it also needs a new rubber boot). It's amazing what you can do with a multimeter, a paper clip, and a willingness to cannibalize parts!

In a stroke of good luck, the two CX-40s that were worst off (i.e. unsalvageable) both had intact rings at the base of the plastic joystick handle. Swapping that out solved the main problem with the other two, since both of the "good" CX-40s had cracked rings. I was also able to cannibalize one of the "bad" CX-40s heavily, allowing me to upgrade the case and fire button on my "good" CX-40, and swap out the defective cord on my Quickshot (which turned out to be a perfect fit). I have no idea how I'd repair a broken cord, but diagnosing and swapping it out was no problem. Somehow I'd assumed it would be soldered to the board, I guess...

Somehow I don't remember reading this before: apparently Las Vegas Craps was completed, but never released. Has anything of the game ever surfaced -- screenshots, advertisements, reminiscences? I can't imagine it's a tragic loss, but...

My girlfriend bid on, and won, a lot on Shopgoodwill.com that had a 7800 console, a pair of TAC-2 joysticks, and a bunch of Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges. Total cost with shipping was a bit over $80. I've posted elsewhere about the 7800 items, but here's what we got for the 2600:

Sealed games:
Cruise Missile, Sea Hunt

CIB/boxed games:
Combat, Demon Attack (no manual), Space Invaders

The Combat is the "01 Combat" label variation, but the box isn't gatefold.

Loose NTSC games:
Nothing too exciting: Activision Decathlon, Atlantis, California Games, Combat x 2, Cruise Missile, Defender x 2, Donkey Kong (red label), Eggomania (flat case), Freeway, Frogs and Flies, Jungle Hunt, Missile Command, Moon Patrol, Ms. Pac-Man x 2, Pac-Man, Sea Hawk, Sea Hunt, Sky Jinks, Swordquest: Earthworld x 2, Swordquest: Fireworld, Task Force, Tennis, Venture

Loose PAL games (!):
Pete Rose Baseball (HES), two 8-in-1 SuperVision multicarts (pictured here, and also attached to this post)

Kind of a strange lot, eh? The loose carts filled a few gaps for me (I didn't have any Froggo games), and also gave me 6-8 carts to give to my family. The other doubles I'll probably trade away, and since I don't collect boxed games for the VCS, I'll find a home for those too.

BTW, I get the impression that sealed Froggo games aren't that valuable, compared to other titles of similar rarity? Is that correct? It's hilarious to look at the succession of markdown stickers on Sea Hunt -- it goes all the way down to $0.99.

The real oddity, though, is those PAL games. I wonder what on earth they were doing in this lot? Maybe they were just arbitrarily added in by the Goodwill folks, but somehow my guess is that it all came from the same source. One of the PAL multicarts actually seems to have five NTSC games -- or at least the games in question don't roll, and the colors look right. Does anyone else have these same multicarts? They weren't on Atarimania before I mentioned them in Rom Hunter's thread.

I'm also given to understand that the PAL version of Pete Rose Baseball is undumped, though it's not clear to me how much of that is due to rarity and how much is due to some technical reason.

Anyway, a strange bunch of games, but when you factor in the 7800 stuff I think we did well for $80.