onmode-ky

At 8 years and 7+ months, this is the new winner for oldest thread revival I've ever seen at AtariAge.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything substantive to contribute.

onmode-ky

frankodragon, on Sat May 19, 2012 5:01 PM, said:

I'm guessing you mean the two Intellivision 10 systems. Techno Source also released a 25-game system alongside the first 10-game model, and they also made a 2-player system.

If you're a Spongebob collector, Jakks' Spongebob plug-n-play series includes 4 models (original, "Dilly Dabbler" (for early childhood ages), "Fry Cook Games," and "Jellyfish Dodge"), plus one motion gaming model, a racing game.

Jakks' Atari joystick plug-n-play is often cited as running on a NES-on-a-chip, but it actually does not. It's most likely a Winbond microcontroller.

atarilovesyou, on Sun May 20, 2012 12:51 AM, said:

I've seen it in person, though I haven't played it. Graphically, it's noticeably higher resolution (VGA). You can see some gameplay in this YouTube review, though it's via a "camera pointed at a CRT" setup and isn't all that clear.

onmode-ky

atarilovesyou, on Sat May 19, 2012 12:30 AM, said:

Strange, what didn't you like about it? I believe the Atari Paddles system is the most highly regarded modern-era plug-n-play system at AtariAge. Heck, its development staff included some AAers, and it runs on a quasi-emulation system which plays very accurately, as far as I know.

atarilovesyou, on Sat May 19, 2012 12:30 AM, said:

Yes, that plug-n-play indeed has terrible, frustrating controls.

atarilovesyou, on Sat May 19, 2012 12:30 AM, said:

Heh, as the guy who liked Jakks' pinball plug-n-play enough to not only track my high scores on every table but also write a guide to every table, I clearly disagree here. :) I just really like pinball a lot; I'm the type who has spent hours chasing down the Wizard goals in Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection and Pinball Arcade.

Which Golden Tee did you buy? There was one from Radica back in 2005 or 2006 (developed by FarSight, the developer of Pinball Hall of Fame and Pinball Arcade, incidentally), and there was one from Jakks last year. Jakks' rendition ran on much more advanced hardware (most evident in the high resolution picture) and had more content.

atarilovesyou, on Sat May 19, 2012 12:30 AM, said:

I'm pretty sure all at least moderately popular toys eventually become collectible. Collectibility generally stems from nostalgia, so as long as there are enough members of the population who have good memories of something, there will be some desirability for it after some time has passed. These systems may have been disappointing to you and other serious retro gaming fans, but I think they were generally well liked among more casual consumers.

onmode-ky

As far as the PS3 goes, shoot 'em-ups that I have for it include PixelJunk SideScroller, which I thought was quite good, Xevious Resurrection (the only new part of Namco Museum Essentials), which was not bad--doesn't stray too far from the original Xevious, really--and Space Invaders Infinity Gene, which does lots of interesting things with the Space Invaders concept. There's some bullet hell available on PSN, too, in the form of Gundemonium Collection, a trio of doujin games.

PS1 shoot 'em-ups downloadable to the PS3 in North America include R-Types (mini-compilation of R-Type and R-Type II), R-Type Delta, GaiaSeed, Shienryu (previously mentioned as Gekioh), Kyuiin, Mobile Light Force (North American name for Gunbird), and, I believe, a Sonic Wings game and a Cho Aniki game.

The PlayStation Store's TG16 selection includes at least one of the Star Soldier series. I think it's Super Star Soldier, or maybe Soldier Blade is also available. I didn't buy it/them because I already had Soldier Collection for the PSP (speaking of which, the PCE/TG16's Sapphire is on a UMD, too, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna Collection).

The PS Store's NeoGeo selection only has one scrolling shooter, I believe, Alpha Mission II. NeoGeo games on the Store are kind of pricey, though, so maybe you'll prefer MAMEing it. . . . Its predecessor, Alpha Mission, is also on the PS Store as one of SNK's Minis, and several of their other pre-NeoGeo arcade games are emulated as Minis, too, including a few scrolling shooters like Prehistoric Isle in 1930 and Bermuda Triangle.

In the way of scrolling shooter Minis that are not arcade games you could just emulate on MAME, I'll recommend Ace Armstrong vs. the Alien Scumbags! (has a poor user rating in the Store, but I think that's mostly because it's rather punishing in its difficulty--like how the second stage needs R-Type-style memorization to make it through), Flying Hamster (a cute 'em-up, but it can get tough at times; last year, the developer's April Fool's joke was that they were releasing a TG16 CD port of it), Who's That Flying?! and Flying Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims (two titles where you focus on wiping out enemies to preserve your firepower or health, rather than to avoid getting shot), and Velocity (vertical scroller with an interesting teleportation mechanic, currently the 2nd-highest rated PSP game of all time at Metacritic after 10 reviews).

I'm afraid I'm of no use with retro consoles' libraries, but it looks like you have plenty of advice there already. :)

onmode-ky

I don't know if I'll be able to participate in the tournament, but I'd like to say that if Konami is chosen as the company, I'd like to see their Xexex in the game selection. I'm familiar with it from the Salamander Portable PSP collection, and I recall enjoying the graphics and sound, along with the somewhat R-Type-esque gameplay. A fairly obscure title, I believe.

onmode-ky