13th December 2018, 5:40 PM
Yes, I got another thing.
Atari 2600
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Swordquest: Earthworld - cart with manual and comic book, $15. Yeah it was a bit much perhaps, but if I'm going to get this game I definitely want the manual and comic considering its reputation for being even harder to figure out without them, so I got it.
Atari 5200
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The main thing I got was for the 5200: I got that Atari 5200 trak-ball controller. It was complete in box, with the manual and foam blocks and everything. For that and the (not trakball-compatible) loose cart game Decathlon I paid $75, which is reasonable; Decathlon is a $20 game easily for the 5200, and the trak-ball's worth the rest, particularly in box and in great condition like this one is. Indeed, the peel-off plastic cover strip over the metal strip on the front of the trakball is still there! That's impressive, for such an old device.
I was really unsure if it would be worth getting because of the price and because I do not exactly like the other old trackballs I have, for the Atari 2600, Sega Master System, and Colecovision for example (except for as a controller extender with nice buttons, in the Coleco's case), but as soon as I plugged it in... this thing's kind of amazing! Of the console trackballs I have used, this one's definitely the best. The ball spins freely and well, unlike those others, and it's got a great feel to it that other old trackballs don't. It's fantastic and makes playing a few games, most notably Centipede and Missile Command, a whole lot better, and they already were pretty good on this system.
There is one downside, though: unfortunately unlike those other trackballs this one doesn't work in a joystick mode with all games, it only works with games specifically programmed to support it. So, there are only 11 5200 titles from its original library that work with the trak-ball, all of them first-party Atari titles -- none of the third parties figured out how to support it or something, I guess. Maybe Kaboom would work? I don't have that one for 5200. It all depends on how each games' analog sensitivity is set apparently, but in most it won't do anything much. So, it's just for 11 games, plus a few more homebrews and unreleased titles (such as Tempest, perhaps most notably). I have 10 of those eleven, only missing RealSports Football, and of those 11, about half aren't something you'd want to play with a trackball for long -- Pengo, Defender, Pole Position? No thanks, for various reasons. But for the supported games that are improved, it's so worth it! Centipede and Missile Command have some of their best home ports around with this trak-ball. Super Breakout's also good, though it's great on 2600 with a paddle controller as well. Space Invaders and Galaxian are surprisingly great with the trakball as well, I didn't think I'd like playing them that way but it's actually really fun. And RealSports Tennis might be a little better than it is with the controller. I haven't tried RealSports Soccer yet. Anyway, it has limited use but it's good at what it does. Centipede with this trakball is a lot better than Slither for Colecovision with that slow-rolling, quick-to-stop trackball... and it has more games too, from their original libraries at least -- only two Colecovision games support that trackball in its analog Roller mode! There may be some more with homebrews, I'm not sure, but that's not many.
Atari 2600
--
Swordquest: Earthworld - cart with manual and comic book, $15. Yeah it was a bit much perhaps, but if I'm going to get this game I definitely want the manual and comic considering its reputation for being even harder to figure out without them, so I got it.
Atari 5200
--
The main thing I got was for the 5200: I got that Atari 5200 trak-ball controller. It was complete in box, with the manual and foam blocks and everything. For that and the (not trakball-compatible) loose cart game Decathlon I paid $75, which is reasonable; Decathlon is a $20 game easily for the 5200, and the trak-ball's worth the rest, particularly in box and in great condition like this one is. Indeed, the peel-off plastic cover strip over the metal strip on the front of the trakball is still there! That's impressive, for such an old device.
I was really unsure if it would be worth getting because of the price and because I do not exactly like the other old trackballs I have, for the Atari 2600, Sega Master System, and Colecovision for example (except for as a controller extender with nice buttons, in the Coleco's case), but as soon as I plugged it in... this thing's kind of amazing! Of the console trackballs I have used, this one's definitely the best. The ball spins freely and well, unlike those others, and it's got a great feel to it that other old trackballs don't. It's fantastic and makes playing a few games, most notably Centipede and Missile Command, a whole lot better, and they already were pretty good on this system.
There is one downside, though: unfortunately unlike those other trackballs this one doesn't work in a joystick mode with all games, it only works with games specifically programmed to support it. So, there are only 11 5200 titles from its original library that work with the trak-ball, all of them first-party Atari titles -- none of the third parties figured out how to support it or something, I guess. Maybe Kaboom would work? I don't have that one for 5200. It all depends on how each games' analog sensitivity is set apparently, but in most it won't do anything much. So, it's just for 11 games, plus a few more homebrews and unreleased titles (such as Tempest, perhaps most notably). I have 10 of those eleven, only missing RealSports Football, and of those 11, about half aren't something you'd want to play with a trackball for long -- Pengo, Defender, Pole Position? No thanks, for various reasons. But for the supported games that are improved, it's so worth it! Centipede and Missile Command have some of their best home ports around with this trak-ball. Super Breakout's also good, though it's great on 2600 with a paddle controller as well. Space Invaders and Galaxian are surprisingly great with the trakball as well, I didn't think I'd like playing them that way but it's actually really fun. And RealSports Tennis might be a little better than it is with the controller. I haven't tried RealSports Soccer yet. Anyway, it has limited use but it's good at what it does. Centipede with this trakball is a lot better than Slither for Colecovision with that slow-rolling, quick-to-stop trackball... and it has more games too, from their original libraries at least -- only two Colecovision games support that trackball in its analog Roller mode! There may be some more with homebrews, I'm not sure, but that's not many.