Forum Overview :: Deleted Posts :: Atari 10-in-1

[quote name="Ice Cream Jonsey"]This has apparently been out for a while, but Christmas is coming, and I presume a few of you are receiving gifts from your loved ones. The 10-in-1 is a piece of hardware that looks like a standard Atari 2600 joystick. Contained within are 10 games -- Adventure, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Gravitar, Real Sports Volleyball, Pong, Yar's Revenge, Circus Atari and Missile Command. That lineup has been carefully selected to maximize the number of games that play for shit on a standard 2600 controller. Pong, Breakout and Circus Atari all used the paddle. Missile Command and Centipede were originally trackball games, although they were redesigned to use the stick for their 2600 versions. I don't remember what Gravitar used because the game is fundamentally unplayable in any version and rather creepy: though we never see the player character inside the spaceship, having evolved in that universe's sick gravity, our avatar must be a short, squat, MODOK-like creature and I don't want to "be" that guy. The 10-in-1 has a fundamental design flaw, in so much as the reset button is on the side of the stick's base that invariably rests on one's stomach. Therefore the fatter you are, the more likely you are to reset the thing by brushing up against the reset button when you are lounging about on your couch. This ultimately results in you flinging the 10-in-1 against the wall, which, being a slight form of physical exertion, is actually good for you, jumbo, so perhaps this is a design flaw like a fox. The games pretty much suck. Gravitar is unplayable in any form, so I can't hold the 2600 version up as a crappy port. Centipede and Missile Command are entertaining, and Yar's Revenge is probably the best of the bunch, unless you've never played Adventure. As I understand it Adventure is one of the top 100 games according to Gamespot, so we got lucky there. Circus Atari is the easiest one to win, but only if your definition of "winning" is getting five of those clowns to splatter upon the ground without popping a single balloon. Mine is, so I was happy to have a game contained in the collection that I was quite good at. (No instructions are included for any of the games, so this interpretation of Circus Atari's gameplay would seem to be valid as any other.) Real Sports Volleyball must have been the first Real Sports game, because the two volleyball players are controlled with the Joystick, and move in perfect synchronicity, which is disturbing and no fun. Breakout and Pong are difficult only until you master using the stick like a paddle. It's fun for a bit, but the lineup could have been a lot better and a adding a few games that were better suited for the joystick would have been a better decision. Finally, limiting the thing to ten games and not allowing for an easy way to dump your own ROMs onto the thing severely limits its appeal as a geek toy, a trend which I understand the iPod started. Your aunt or someone might grab this for you because she knows you like video games and trenchcoats and you already have a nice trenchcoat. There is little reason to grab it yourself anytime soon. There are a couple other products that Jakks Pacific has released: one is full of Activision games, and the other contains five Namco titles (Pac Man, Dig Dug, Galaxian and then Rally-X, and frigging Bosconian. I saw an Intellivision one at the CGE, but I couldn't find a purchase link for it anywhere, for whatever that's worth. The Activision one does include Pitfall and River Raid, so picking that up will instantly get you about 66% of all the decent 2600 games, so that might be the better way to go. the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey![/quote]