Illinois Game Con 2023

SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2023 AT 9 AM – 5 PM
Illinois Game Con 2023
1106 Interstate Dr, Bloomington, IL 61705

Notable arcade ports to the Atari 2600 - part I

There were many arcade ports for the Atari 2600. Although an extremely primitive game system like the Atari 2600 VCS has a difficult time looking and playing as good as the more advanced arcade machines, some ports caputured the feel of the game very well. I'm going to try to do a simple review of three 2600 arcade game ports a week. So here are the first three:

Asteroids     -- average port, fun to play, most of the same concept, but look, 
                 feel, and action does not mirror arcade.  If you are looking 
                 for something really close to the arcade, this is not it.
                 If you are looking for something in the ballpark and same concept,
                 this will do.
Rating:          




Battlezone    -- great port, most of the same feel as arcade.  Really, graphics 
                 are pretty good for the 2600, but not vector style like orginal.
Rating           




Berzerk       -- great port, not exact... but fun and same feel as arcade.
                 If you like Berzerk, a must have. Even without the voice.
Rating           

Notes about Pitfall II

Unlike Pitfall, Pitfall II has no time limit.

Checkpoints (red crosses) - Cross these and when you die you will start back at the last one you touched.

You win the game when you rescue:

- a woman named Rhonda
- the Raj diamond ring 
- a monkey name Quickclaw 

Perfect score is 199,000.  To achieve this score, you must find 28 gold bars, Rhonda, Quickclaw, the diamond, and the primitive cave rat.

Scoring:

- 5,000 points for every gold bar.
-15,000 for primitive cave rat.
- 20,000 for the Raj diamond ring
- 10,000 for the rescue of Rhonda
- 10,000 for the rescue of the monkey

Tip:

Use the ladder in the part ahead to get past the frog by ducking into it as it leaps over your head

Map of the game:

https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/Atari2600/PitfallII-LostCaverns-LostCaverns.png

105 Odyssey2 games!

This is not a complete list, but here is a list of 105 Odyssey2 games!  There are some great gems in this list arranged in alphabetical order.  The Odyssey2 was released in 1978 in the United States by Magnavox. Magnavox/Philips released a total of 47 cartridges in the American market in the 80s. Imagic later got into the act by releasing two cartridges.

4 in 1 Row 

Aaron the Aant!

Air Battle

Alien Invaders Plus

Alpine Skiing

Amok!

Armada 

Armored Encounter/Sub Chase

Astrododge

Astrododge Versus

Atlantis

Attack of the Timelord

Baseball

Baseball +

Backgammon 

Blobbers 

Blockout/Breakdown

Boom Box

Bowling/Basketball

Casino Slot Machine

Catch the Ball/Noughts and Crosses 

Chez Maxime 

Chinese Logic 

Clay Pigeon 

Comando Noturno 

Computer Golf

Computer Intro

Conquest of the World

Cosmic Conflict

Demon Attack

Depth Charge/Marksman

Dynasty

Didi na Mina Encantada 

Electronic Table Soccer

Exojet + 

Football

Freedom Fighters

Frogger

Golf Tournament!

The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt

Helicopter Rescue

Hockey/Soccer

Invaders from Hyperspace

I've Got Your Number

K.C. Munchkin

K.C.'s Krazy Chase

Keyboard Creations

Killer Bees

Kinder im Verkehr 1 

Labyrinth Game/Supermind 

Lady Frog!

Las Vegas Blackjack

Le Trésor Englouti + 

Loony Balloon 

Mage 2: The Dark Mirror

Mage 3: The Final Journey

Mage: The Enchanted Crystals

Matchmaker/Buzzword/Logix

Math-A-Magic/Echo

Mean Santa!

Monkeyshines

Morse 

Moto-Crash + 

Mr. Roboto!

The Mousing Cat 

Musician 

Neutron Star 

Nightmare

Nimble Numbers Ned

Norseman 

Out of this World/Helicopter Rescue

Pachinko

Pick Axe Pete

Pinball!

Pocket Billiards

Popeye

Power Lords

P.T. Barnum's Acrobats

Q*Bert 

The Quest for the Rings

Race 

S.I.D. the Spellbinder

Secret of the Pharaohs

Showdown in 2100 AD

Smithereens

Spaceman Splorf: Planet of Doom

Speedway/Spin-Out/Crypto-Logic

Spider-Man

Super Bee 

Super Cobra 

Syracuse 

Take the Money and Run

Thunderball

Traffic!

Trans American Rally

Turtles

Tutankham

Type & Tell

UFO

Volleyball

Walls!

War of Nerves

Western +

Wildlife!

Wildlife+

Odyssey2 and game room

At Last! My Magnavox Odyssey² Console arrived! This was another gamble purchase. Seller said that the console powers on and creates a test pattern, but had no cartridges to test it with. They wanted $39.99, so I went for it. With tax and shipping $55. Plugged the Odyssey² in and it worked! Played about 5 different games with no issues. Luckily for me, another successful gamble. I have been without an Odyssey for about seven years and really wanted to own one again. This was my main game console for a whie and what I learned how to do some assembler language programming. This console has a special place in my heart.

A photo showing the difference in controller size from an Atari 2600.

I have my new Pac-Man artwork hung on the east wall of my game room.

My game room 'great' bargains from this Saturday

PitFall II - working... ebay $21


Atari hat - new @ Hobby Lobby - sale $2.75!!



Pacman drawer handles - new @ Hobby Lobby - $2.50 each



Pacman 3-D framed 'poster' - new @ Hobby Lobby - $9.50

Game Controller Pinouts

I'm make this post as much for my own reference. All three uses DB9-pin connectors

Pinouts for the Odyssey2 controller
1 - Ground
2 - Fire
3 - Left
4 - Down
5 - Right
6 - Up
7,8,9 - not connected

Pinouts for the Atari 2600 controller
1 - Up
2 - Down
3 - Left
4 - Right
6 - Fire
8 - Ground
5,7,9 - not used

Pinout for Sega Genesis controller
1 - Up
2 - Down
3 - Left
4 - Right
5 - Voltage
6 - Button A/Button B
7 - Select
8 - Ground
9 - Button Start/Button C

Odyssey2 replacement console

Just purchased an Magnavox Odyssey² computer consule tonight! Very excited.


Been shopping around for one for a long time.

I did return the non-working Pitfall II cartridge and got my money back for that and put that towards the new O² :)

Atari 2600 platformers

Most people don't think of the Atari 2600 as a platformer console, but there are some really good platformer games made for the Atari 2600. So after my evaluation, and my humble opinion, here is my list of the Top 12 Atari 2600 Platformers of all time:

Runner up, Miner 2049er by Tigervision

12	Miner 2049er II	Tigervision
11	Fast Eddie	Fox Video Games
10	Adventures of Tron	Mattel
9	Donkey Kong Jr	Coleco/Nintendo
8	Mario Bros.	Nintendo
7	Pitfall!	Activision
6	Donkey Kong	Coleco/Nintendo
5	Burger Time	Mattel
4	Keystone Kapers	Activision
3	Montezuma’s Revenge	Parker Brothers
2	H.E.R.O	Activision
1	Pitfall II	Activision

Montezuma's Revenge, Hero, and Pitfall II are in the list of the "Top All-time Atari 2600" games ever made. Obviously Activision was the winners in this category with four of the top 7

Game Room room update, Pitfall II

This spring, I have had a trickle of Star Wars, Cubs décor, and D&D stuff come to the game room.  As far as game system, mainly just have the Atari 7800, Sony PlayStation 4, and Sony PlayStation 2 setup for games along side of the Arcade 1Up.

I finally found Pitfall II for the Atari 2600.  Paying $25 plus tax is not ideal, but I also realized this cartridge does not pop up often.  I was so excited to map out a learn this game, but alas after trying both consoles and cleaning the cartridge... the cartridge is dead.  I find it hard to believe it was not tested. :(

I'll see if they will honor the exchange.