Sunday, July 31, 2022

Bad issue with my ColecoVision Flashback

I turned on the ColecoVision Flashback last night and received a scrambled startup screen. Turned off the system, had the same screen. Turned the ColecoVision Flashback off one more time and the system displayed vertical color bars. For the remainder of my troubleshooting, that is all I received.

So I opened up the system to look for some obvious reason for the issue.

Not quite like opening up other systems to troubleshoot. The board is a fraction of the size of the console case and screwed on the the upper side so that when opening the case up, the underbelly of the board is exposed. That said, the board looked clean of dust, corrosion, and other issues.

The solder points, resisters, and capastors look good to me.

Power looks good and the video chip is working, thus the color bars. It is my opinioin that the ROM has gone bad. I will likely do what others have done a put a PI in this.

Monday, July 18, 2022

Huge weekly pick this week

First, I want to ackknowledge that today is the 18th aniversary of Tracy's Death. Went to the grave with my children with with Tracy.

Items that I picked up for game room over the week, including today:

First on the break down, Dice:
- 7 dice set, hand crafted silver with gold accent
- 2 dice set, hand crafted green onyx

Next, Video game system and games.

- Atari 7800 ProSystem Console. I have been wanting this for a long time.

- Additional 10 Controllers:
- - 4 Atari 2600 paddle controllers.
- - 4 Atari 2600 joystick controllers.
- - 2 Atari 7800 joystick contollers.



- 17 Games including
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient A (Coleco)
- - Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 varient B (Atari)
- - Donkey Kong Junior for Atari 2600
- - Jr Pac-Man for 2600
- - Pitfall for 2600
- - Warplock for 2600
- - Frogger for 2600
- - Dig Dug for Atari 7800
- - Pole Position II for Atari 7800

Friday, July 8, 2022

Here is a fun treat, Super Mario!

From Jcw87's Web Projects, here is a fun treat, Super Mario!
  • https://jcw87.github.io/c2-smb1/

    Additionally, I have reworked my Game Room page:
  • http://mrgibson.com/GameRoom/


    A new favorite platformer I have discovered is Space Panic. Predates and influenced Donkey Kong.  Game play needs some explanation, as it is not obvious at first, but once you understand how to play, quite fun.  I have it on the ColecoVision and it is a fun game that I had never played before.
  • Saturday, July 2, 2022

    Mecha-8


    Screen shot from ColecoVision (Real Hardware)

    A great game I have discovered, Mecha-8.  As far as I can tell, the game has only been released for 3 systems; the MSX, ColecoVision, and Sega Master System.  None of these I would call mainstream game systems today.  

    Mecha-8 by Nanochess for the Colecovision uses enhanced sound from Opcode's super game module (SGM). This is incorporated in the version that is released for ColecoVision Flashback by AtGames (both 60 game and 61 game version).

    My AtGames ColecoVision Flashback 61

    This is a scrolling shooter with outstanding game play, music, graphics, variety in environment, and fun 'bosses' for such a game.  I can't image what this game would have done for ColecoVision if it had come out in 1983.

    Video for Sega Master System:

    https://youtu.be/NBWQafXLAvM

    Video for ColecoVision:

    https://youtu.be/FQa4N39mDwY

    Video for MSX

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z94YUI8_X4s


    New office/computer lab done!

    My new office/computer lab is done! This is my 7 to 1 KVM setup that I spent only $83 on. It manages all but two of my computers and soon m...