This Planet Sucks and Dark Mage by Greg Troutman

Hey look, this episode is posting on the day it's supposed to be posted! Wow. This episode is about Greg Troutman's games Dark Mage and This Planet Sucks, both early examples of homebrew games. Next week I'll be focusing on Donkey Kong Jr., Looping, Pepper II and Rocky Battles The Champ, all by Coleco. Or some of them are, the last two were never released. Please send any feedback on these or any games I've covered to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you all very much!

P.S. - Snow is dumb.

Pertinent Links

Atari 2600 Homebrew site
Greg Troutman's original website (Wayback Machine)
Original webpage for This Planet Sucks (Wayback machine)
Stella List Archives
This Planet Sucks black background hack by Nukey Shay
Lunar Rescue on KLOV
Dark Mage solution by Jun Duc
Dark Mage on Atari 2600 Homebrew site
This Planet Sucks on Atari 2600 Homebrew site
Buy these games from Packrat Video games
Buy these games from Atari Age
Fellowship of the Ring on AA
Edladdin Colecovision Controllers Kickstarter!
Atari Bytes podcast
CU Podcast - Is Atari Collecting Dead?
Phaeron's Seaquest for the Atari 800 on AA
Rob Kelly's AMAZING Paper Stained Glass Window of Nolan Bushnell

AX-021, Spider Fighter, & AX-022, Seaquest!

Thank you everyone for your patience, understanding, and kindness. This episode is about Seaquest and Spider Fighter by Activision. Next week's episode about the Greg Troutman homebrew games This Planet Sucks and Dark Mage should be posted as scheduled. If you have feedback for those games or any games I've already covered, you can send it to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you for listening!

Pertinent Links

Larry Miller profile in Activisions newsletter
Spider Fighter patch...
...and accompanying letter
Spider Fighter contest writeup
Seaquest patch...
...and accompanying letter
Steve Cartwright interview by Tim Duarte
Steve Cartwright interview on Retro Videogamer forum
Lost Treasures of Gaming Podcast - Steve Cartwright interview
CGE 2007 Activision Panel including Steve Cartwright
HMS Raptor thread on AA
Jaguar Raptor Engine homepage
Article by Emilie Livezy about Seaquest International
Retro Atari Podcasts app by Trevor Holyoak

Happy New Year!

I went back and forth about releasing this episode, I put a lot of myself out there and tried to explain what is going on with me. So there's no game talk in it. :) I ran it by Sarah and she thought it was good, so here you go. If you listen to it or not, it's up to you, I won't hold anything against you.

Thank you once again to Kevin McLaughlin, I won't be able to do that enough. Thank you all for listening, and please be safe on New Year's Eve. I am so glad you are here.

Merry Christmas 2015!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all enjoy your end of the year festivities. Thank you so much for all of your support, and I hope to give you as much as I can in 2016!

Kevin Zerbe's Christmas music (and more) on Bandcamp
Kevin Zerbe's Seasonal albums on Bandcamp
The Holiday Special Podcast
Doug McCoy's McCoyCast pages (Gamma Dev)
The Snowman. Watch at your own risk.

CX 2675, Ms. Pac-Man, & CX 2676, Centipede!

Hi everyone! I hope that you all are having a stress-free holiday season. I will be as soon as this is posted. :) And by this I mean my episode about Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede for the Atari 2600. I had a lot of fun, and even Mrs. Ferguson joins me for a new unfortunately titled segment! This will also probably be the only appearance of that segment. Thank you all again for your patience while I put this episode together.

On January 13th the games will resume with Seaquest and Spider Fighter, both by Activision. I will be putting a Christmas memories episode together this weekend, so I would need your submissions by December 19th. You can send your Christmas memories, feedback for Seaquest and Spider Fighter, or feedback for any game I've already covered (see Jose's handy list in the links down there) to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening everyone, I really appreciate it!

Pertinent Links

First State Potion Masters Hufflepuff House Cup - Donate to Food Bank of DE here, and thank you!
Ms. Pac-Man on KLOV 
Centipede on KLOV 
Ms. Pac-Man Easter Eggs on 2600 Connection
Centipede Easter Eggs on 2600 Connection (includes Centipede flea ladder trick video)
Ms. Pac-Man on Atari Protos 
Centipede on Atari Protos
No Swear Gamer 138 - Ms. Pac-Man!
No Swear Gamer 111 - Centipede!
Trak Ball games thread on Atari Age (get the roms here)
Who Made Ms. Pac-Man thread on AA
Pie Factory and NARC developers at Galloping Ghost Arcade on AA
Dona Bailey interview by Andy Nealen
Centipede at Arcade History
Centipede $50,000 Tournament fiasco from All In Color for a Quarter 
Patricia Goodson's web site
Josh Littlefield on Moby Games
Mark Ackerman's web site
Atari Centipede comic on AA
Diagamblic on Soundcloud (the Galaxian remix is by him, I stole a snippet of it)
Centipede World Championship medal on Atarimania
Turmoil by Paul Robson on the iTunes store
SNES Podcast Contest announcement on FB
Holy Crap.

My Video Game Collecting History!

Hi folks, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The next show proper won't be out until the 16th (so he says), but I wanted to give you something to tide you over. Instead, you're getting a show in which I ramble on and on about my collecting habits and where they are headed. I hope you will enjoy it anyway. :)

The next show will of course be about Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man, both by Atari. I am also looking for your Christmas memories, which I will put together and put out the week of Christmas some time. If you'd like to send your feedback or thoughts for either of these shows, please get them in to me by the end of the day on December 13th. That should give me plenty of time to get both shows out on time. You can send it to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you very much for listening, enjoy your December!


Donate to Hufflepuff House, First State Potion Masters. Donations benefit the Food Bank of Delaware. Show those Slytherin who's boss! :)


Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

VC 1007, Name This Game, & VC 1009, Towering Inferno!

Hello World! Today I check out Name This Game and Towering Inferno by U.S. Games. I also was very fortunate to speak with Ron Dubren, the designer of Name This Game. Big thank you to Ron for taking some time out of his day for me, and you can check him out on the interwebs at the links below.

I forgot to mention in the show that you can still donate to Wade or Rick for the Extra Life charity, up until the end of the year. So if you think you might have missed it, you didn't! Links to donate are below.

So. The next show will NOT be about Glib and Music Machine as I had originally planned. I am going to spend a little more time on the Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man episode, which will be out on December 16th. A Christmas show probably will not happen, but I haven't totally ruled it out. If you have feedback for Centipede or Ms. Pac-Man, or if you have an Atari related Christmas memory, please send them to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net no later than end of day on December 13th. Thanks very much for your understanding, and thank you all for listening!

Pertinent Links

Ron Dubren interview by Phil Wiswell
Ron Dubren's Toys and Games blog page
Ron Dubren's Art blog page
Ron Dubren's Vimeo page
Ron Dubren's Centipede book on Digital Press
Atari Protos: Name This Game
Atari Protos: Amiga Power Play Arcade
Paul Allen Newell interview by Scott Stilphen
Todd Marshall interview by Scott Stilphen
Towering Inferno on Random Terrain's site
Donate to Wade for Extra Life
Donate to Rick for Extra Life
No Swear Gamer 214 - Name This Game!
No Swear Gamer 216 - Towering Inferno!
Haunted House Pinball mod
Lock Is Lit podcast
For Amusement Only DAILY Pinball podcast!
Silver Ball Museum in Asbury Park
The SNES Podcast
Wall Collisions in Adventure thread on AA
Louis Gorenfeld's Youtube reviews

11007, Turmoil, & 11008, Fantastic Voyage!

Welcome to episode 111, where we discuss the very good 20th Century Fox games Turmoil and Fantastic Voyage. Make sure you save this episode, 111 will only come around once this century! Next episode will be on Name This Game and Towering Inferno (ironically a 20th Century Fox property) by US games. Please send your feedback for these games to 2600gamebgame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

Interview with 20th Century Fox' Frank O'Connell by Beau Urell
Mark Turmell Interview by Dan Gutman
David Lubar interview by Scott Stilphen
The No Swear Gamer Episode 212 - Turmoil
Digital Press 99 Classics
Donate to Wade for Extra Life
Donate to Rick for Extra Life
Lock Is Lit podcast 
This Guy's Retro Games Roundup blog 
Zlad. 

Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

#669, Haunted House by Gottlieb!

Happy Halloween! This is your TREAT from me, get it? Just a short one, I'm not good at talking about pinball, even my favorite table of all time! One thing I discovered after I recorded was that the Alfred Hitchcock Presents theme is actually a piece by Gounod called Funeral March of a Marionette, which makes sense. It will make sense to you when you listen, and I thank you for doing that. Have a great day!

SCAAARY Links

System 80 explanation at PinWiki
Haunted House at Internet Pinball Database
Haunted House at KLOV
Haunted House at Pinside
Bally's Elektra on IPDB
Chicago Vending Company's Three Point ad
Bally's Xenon at IPDB
John Osborne at 2004 Pinball Expo
John Osborne interview on Topcast podcast

CX 2674, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial!

Hi everyone, I am very sorry once again for getting this episode out so late. I knew there was a lot to research on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by Atari, but I just didn't realize how MUCH was out there until I started looking. It is now finished and is very long, and I really hope it was worth the wait! It was a lot of fun to go back through all that happened last year, and you guys sent in some GREAT feedback, thank you so much for that.

Next week I'll be discussing two 20th Century Fox games developed by Sirius Software, Fantastic Voyage and Turmoil. I know I said in the show to get your feedback in by November 1st, but at this point by November 3rd end of day will be great. I apologize to Nils and Bill, they did send E.T. feedback in after I recorded but before I finished the show, but I didn't get time to put it in this show. Next one for sure! You can send that feedback to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you all again very much for your patience, and I will see you next week! Fingers crossed. :)

Pertinent Links

HSW's website
HSW Interview on AV Club
HSW interview by Charles Gray
TONS of HSW videos on Youtube
Fixing E.T. thread on Atari Age
Fixing E.T. writeup by AA user recompile (get the rom here)
Random Terrain's E.T. pages
2600 Connection E.T. easter egg and bug page
Steven Spielberg on E.T. and HSW
James Heller interview by Scott Stilphen
No Swear Gamer 9 - E.T.! 
No Swear Gamer E.T. Easter Eggs!
Atlantic article by the "Punk Archaeologists" 
Punk Archaeologists' April Fools article
E.T. Book Cart on Atari Age
Tularosa Basin Historical Society eBay page (sold items)
How to Beat the Home Video Games - E.T.
American Hot Stuff with HSW
E.T. Book Cart by Charles Gray 
Atari IO forums 
Rick Reynolds' podcasts - GET SOME
Please support Rick and Extra Life!
Action Figure Blues podcast