the track record for video game to movie transfers is a bloody one so lets make it bloodier. i propose a Turok dinasour hunter, Doom, more recent Devil May Cry, Pac Man, and Mario Bros. 2 be made into big screen flops but if done right they could be very entertaining, thoughts anyone?

Turok would also count as comic-to-movie, since it was originally a comic-to-game thing.

The Doom movie is already in the works, I believe, with Todd McFarlane designing the monsters...

A Pac-Man movie would be a f**king trip...how would it work at all!?

A sequel to Super Mario Bros. I would enjoy, strictly because of its cheesiness...and the fact that if John Leguizamo was signed on as Luigi again, he would tear the movie to pieces in a stand-up special about a year after its release.

>I'm from the video arcade atari era. But does anybody remember what came

Ah, the Atari 2600/5200/7800, Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore 64. I still own all of those (except Colecovision, never had that one).

>first....the movie or the arcade game TRON? The movie was actually a bit>ahead of it's time.

I'm 99% sure that the movie came first, then the arcade games (Discs of Tron and the 4-in-1 machine) and various home games (Tron's Deadly Discs, Adventures of Tron, Amaze-A-Tron, light-cycle clones like Atari's Surround etc).

I still HAVE my ataris, the 2600 and..was there a 2400? i swear i have one of the first ones. Haven't pulled it out in years but still got all my games. Most of them like star wars are lame but you gotta love it! My paddles don't work and neither does one of my joysticks..i took it apart and managed to get it halfway operational. But the simplicity of those games was wonderful..I remember I absolutely LOVED playing "combat" with my brother. I'm kind of bummed those game systems and games never gained any value..sorta like record albums (tho there's always a few people will pay more for). Because not everybody kept theirs and not all of them are in working condition. YOu know it took me a long while to figure out how to hook that up to my tv when I played a year or so ago, because used to there was the tv/game converter switch and I wasn't sure if I had to use it anymore...lol

>I'm 99% sure that the movie came first, then the arcade games (Discs of Tron and the 4-in-1 machine) and various home games (Tron's Deadly Discs, Adventures of Tron, Amaze-A-Tron, light-cycle clones like Atari's Surround etc). <<

I'd love to check - I know a few games tried to be based off of older movies like star wars (not sure what year that trend started) but movies like "Cloak and dagger" i think came first and then the game. Then it got popular with Ghostbusters and stuff..and that game was horrible. I never could figure out tron, i remember the game you stood up and it was inside a booth. But i really really sucked at it. ;-)My favorite arcade game was the Black Knight Pinball machine and Centipede. As for my atar games I loved Fast Food, Haunted House, pitfall, Combat and PONG!

>I still HAVE my ataris, the 2600 and..was there a 2400? i swear i have one of the

Here in the US there was the 2600 (originally called the VCS) with 6 switches on the front and woodgrain trim. Then they went to a 4 switch model, moving the difficulty switches to the back, then there was an all black 4 switch model. A few years later they released the 2600 Jr. It was a sort of flat wedge shape a little bigger than a video tape with the cartridge slot in the center. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

>first ones. Haven't pulled it out in years but still got all my games. Most of them

Me too. Plus I ended up with all my grandparents' games after they passed away.

>like star wars are lame but you gotta love it! My paddles don't work and neither

Uness it's a broken wire, the paddles should be easy to fix. Take them apart (take out the screws in the underside) and spray the pots (the round guts) with some cleaner/degreaser spray from Radio Shack. You could probably also use some of their TV Tuner and contact cleaner, but one thing I read said there might be an issue of 'plastic rot'. Never had that problem personally. Spray them so that the spray actually gets inside to the works of the pots, then twist the knobs back and forth to clean the contacts. If it's too hard to get to the pots, I believe you can remove them by pulling off the knobs and then taking off the nut that holds them in the plastic case. (been a while since i took mine apart). The same cleaner spray would probably help if the buttons don't register. Test before putting everything back together and repeat if necessary.

If that doesn't work, you can probably find someone or somewhere to buy a working set from on the net for a few bucks.

>does one of my joysticks..i took it apart and managed to get it halfway

Standard Atari joysticks were notoriously fragile. What would usually happen with mine is that the little metal bubble switches would crack, or move off the contacts. I'd just cut the sticky plastic over them and use a piece of clear sealing tape. It's ultra sticky and works pretty good. You can find tons of joysticks for sale on the net too. Wico joysticks are good and built to last (Wico made arcade controllers).

>operational. But the simplicity of those games was wonderful..I remember I>absolutely LOVED playing "combat" with my brother. I'm kind of bummed those

Combat was actually the second Atari game I played. My grandparents bought their Atari under the Sears brand name and it came with Air Sea Battle (called Target Fun) and months, that was the only game I played. They always lived downstairs from us, so I was down there every day playing. One day they went out and when they came back I went down to find my grandfather playing one of the plane games in Combat. I knew it used cartridges and that the idea was to make other games for it, but at the time it blew me away to just come in and find a brand new game! After that, they got new games every month or two and I ended up with my own Atari for Christmas, which came with Combat.

>game systems and games never gained any value..sorta like record albums >(tho there's always a few people will pay more for). Because not everybody kept>theirs and not all of them are in working condition. YOu know it took me a long

A few are worth money. People are willing to pay insane amounts for Chase the Chuckwagon (horrible promotional game), Crazy Climber and especially Cubicolor (Supposed to only be like 50 in existance).

>while to figure out how to hook that up to my tv when I played a year or so ago,>because used to there was the tv/game converter switch and I wasn't sure if I>had to use it anymore...lol

I think you can get an RCA to Coax adapter so you can plug it directly into the cable connector.

>I'd love to check - I know a few games tried to be based off of older movies like

According to the Killer List of Video Games site (www.klov.com) the Tron arcade games were being developed at the same time as the movie. Check these pages;

>star wars (not sure what year that trend started) but movies like "Cloak and>dagger" i think came first and then the game. Then it got popular with

The arcade game of Star Wars came out in 1983 (according to the KLOV). Cloak and Dagger was being developed under another name and when the producers of the movie heard about it, they wanted it in the film, and the name of the game was changed to coincide with the movie's title. See section 2.6 of this FAQ;

>Ghostbusters and stuff..and that game was horrible. I never could figure out tron, i

If you mean the 2600 version, I agree, but if you mean Ghostbusters in general, then I disagree. I loved that game on the Commodore 64. Of course I could never resist cheating. If you placed both guys exactly on top of each other in the ghost catching segments, then when you fired the trap, the ghost would freeze in place. Made it REAL easy to catch them! :)

>remember the game you stood up and it was inside a booth. But i really really>sucked at it. ;-)

Discs of Tron. I never played the arcade machine myself (not that many large arcades around here), but I did play it under MAME. Of course, being emulated and not having all the arcade controls available, I didn't do that well. I spent several minutes trying to figure out how to jump across the discs before realizing that he does it automatically! :)

>My favorite arcade game was the Black Knight Pinball machine and Centipede.

I never got into actual pinball machines that much. I do enjoy playing good computer simulations of them though.

I never had Fast Food and I got frustrated with Pitfall (every time I'd need to time a jump over some obstacle, those stupid logs would come rolling out!). I liked Haunted house though. You might be surprised to learn that people are still creating games for some of these systems and one author has just written Haunted House II for the 5200. He's having a run of cartridges made, but no word on whether he'll also release the ROM for use under emulators. Check out the Atari Age site;

As for other games, I really got into the more detailed ones like Starmaster, Robot Tank, River Raid etc. My favorite was/is probably Phaser Patrol for the Starpath Supercharger. In case you're not familiar with it, the Supercharger was a giant cartridge with a cord attached to it and the games came on cassette. It added more memory to the 2600 and games could load in stages. I also liked Tunnel Runner (3D maze game), Mountain King (large scrolling mountain treasure hunt) and Solaris (late Atari space game). Oh, and Midnight Magic, a *MUCH* improved pinball game that makes Video Pinball look like a joke.

No, i'm sure I have a 2400 and the next one up..2800 i think. I'd have to rip it down to check but i'm positive my first one was a 2400. now if there's proof one was never made i take it back but i'm too tired to search the net. Your grandparents were with it..lol. But i remember my mom loved to play, I'd come home from school and before i opened the sliding door i could hear the familiar sound from the "Fast Food" game. We were total addicts. I have a bunch of my games and ended up with a ton more of my ex's

Not suprising about the movie/game connection. The games were so HOT I think they realized if they released a movie and game about the same time they'd feed off eachothers popularity. Thank god not many were done..most of the games based on movies really sucked.

Unsure any arcades today would have the old games like tron so maybe your chance was up in 1988. I think the last arcade i saw games true to the old generation was back in 1992. After that most arcades closed up except a few nicklerama type places or stuff at the bowling alley and those are big action graphics. The more graphics the games have now the more I can't play..they're too hard to figure out and some give me nausia from all the spinning. (tho I LOVE the dreamcast Taxi Driver game..mostly for humors sake)

I was a master at pitfall. Logs never got me, I even managed to jump on all the crocks. I could actually finish out the game. I never did figure out underground shortcuts and the scorpions were the hardest to jump. Haunted house is great...particularly the harder levels drove you mad with all the locked doors and no lights.

Recently I was too lazy to hookup the system and wanted my godson to play them so I downloaded them from www.atariland.com (think that's the site). Somehow I have to admit, there's a certain feeling of joy in having the joystick in your hand..no wonder it's a JOYstick. There's no satisfaction in using the keyboard.

>No, i'm sure I have a 2400 and the next one up..2800 i think. I'd have to rip it down

There was a 2800 released in Japan, but the FAQ says it's very rare. The next system up from the 2600 was the 5200. It was a relatively huge console that took cartridges that were wider than they were tall. Basically it was an Atari computer without the keyboard. After that, Atari created the 7800, but then someone new took over Atari and dumped all the video game developement in favor of creating the Atari ST computers. A few years later, they just dumped the already completed 7800 on the market for some quick cash. The 7800 was designed like the 5200, but smaller. The cartridges used the same cases as the 2600 and it could also play most/all (depending on what revision you got) 2600 games. Native 7800 games featured more colors and more objects onscreen at once.

>to check but i'm positive my first one was a 2400. now if there's proof one was>never made i take it back but i'm too tired to search the net. Your grandparents

If you ever do check what ones you have, I'd be very interested to see a description of them. It's possible that it was a clone from some other company. I know Coleco made one called the Gemini. One non-US company even created one with like 100+ built-in games in a case about the size of a cartridge.

>were with it..lol. But i remember my mom loved to play, I'd come home from>school and before i opened the sliding door i could hear the familiar sound from>the "Fast Food" game. We were total addicts. I have a bunch of my games and>ended up with a ton more of my ex's

My grandparents like Activision checkers, the various Pac-Man games and my grandmother also liked Pengo, and some shooting games.

>Not suprising about the movie/game connection. The games were so HOT I>think they realized if they released a movie and game about the same time>they'd feed off eachothers popularity. Thank god not many were done..most of>the games based on movies really sucked.

The games released in that time period weren't that bad. Later, when movie-based games became common, some real crap appeared. Like Gremlins II, Total Recall, Darkman etc, which were all really lame platform games.

>Unsure any arcades today would have the old games like tron so maybe your>chance was up in 1988. I think the last arcade i saw games true to the old

I suppose I could always buy one if I have a spare few thousand dollars. :)

Otherwise I'll have to settle for play it on MAME in a darkened room. That is, if it can be played effectively without the actual aracde controls.

>nicklerama type places or stuff at the bowling alley and those are big action>graphics. The more graphics the games have now the more I can't play..they're

I can't play them because they're all left-handed and I'm not.

>too hard to figure out and some give me nausia from all the spinning. (tho I LOVE>the dreamcast Taxi Driver game..mostly for humors sake)

Played that a little in the store and had fun with it. I don't own any of the current consoles though.

>I was a master at pitfall. Logs never got me, I even managed to jump on all the>crocks. I could actually finish out the game. I never did figure out underground>shortcuts and the scorpions were the hardest to jump. Haunted house is

I never did very well at it. I liked Pitfall II better. I actually finished it on the C64. You never died, just went back to the last checkpoint. When that happened for about the 200th time, you wanted to strangle the guy who wrote the annoying music.

>Recently I was too lazy to hookup the system and wanted my godson to play>them so I downloaded them from www.atariland.com (think that's the site).>Somehow I have to admit, there's a certain feeling of joy in having the joystick in>your hand..no wonder it's a JOYstick. There's no satisfaction in using the>keyboard.

Yup. With a few exceptions I hate using the keyboard in place of a joystick. The one game I preferred it though was Karateka on the C64. The joystick just never worked very well on that one.

I definitely want to be able to hook up Atari style sticks to use with emulators.

I'd like a movie based on Banjo Kazooie, or perhaps one based on Metal Gear Solid. Or Mario Kart, it could be like a zany, Cannonball Run sort of movie, or a Zelda one, or an Earthworm Jim one, Killer Instinct would kick ass as a film (I mean Mortal Kombat, the first one, ruled!) and lastly films based on the Star Fox/ Star Wing games.

I read about a Japanese homo-erotic game called Choaniki: Great Brother in which the player controls a naked man who shoots enemies with his penis rocket, and when he needs to fly he hops on the back of another naked man, a la Ace and Gary of the Ambiguously Gay Duo. Who wouldn't want to see a movie of that?

Resident Evil would make a good film. There was a movie that came out last year that vaguely resembled RE but I wouldn't consider it an actual RE movie.