Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/15/ataris-2600-gets-retro-gaming-right.html
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I never had one. My parents wouldn’t get us one. We had Pong when that came out. And then we got an Apple ][+. No dedicated game consoles in our house.
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I got one for xmas, and it only took a week for my son’s cat to eat through both joystick cables. 
I really hate the soy-based plastic used to wrap low-voltage wires. I need to dig around the online mega-retailer to see if cloth wrapped phone wire is available so I can repair the controllers.
My friend had one, I really wanted one, but I got the Sears version of the Intellivision. At the time I thought it was a raw deal. As i got older i realized how much better and complicated the Intellivision games were, and they had two licensesed D&D games which were fantastic.
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Update the firmware for other reasons than the cables.
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Indeed. A friend of mine had one, and we played on it a lot. But often other people who only knew the Atari didn’t want to learn how to use the controllers, and preferred simpler games.
Good Intellivision emulators exist if you’re feeling nostalgic.
Edit: And here’s the other one
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A firmware update definitely won’t fix the damage Logan has inflicted!
I’m intrigued, though, is the update to get more games, and do I have to connect the console to my desktop to do this?
Lots of improved game compatibility, also button layout fixes, and the like.
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The games were superior. The controller was a mixed bag. The disc for movement was weird compared to a joy stick - but - it worked fine once you got used to it.
The buttons on the side would hurt your thumb after awhile on shooting games. The big orange masher on the Atari was a real plus.
The over lay system for the number pad was genius and allowed for a lot of cool things - though only utilized fully on some games. (some games it was barely used).
It was so fucked up if you were left-handed, though.
Thank god for the Competition Pro 5000. It also had micro switches, not that crappy white plastic ring that pushed down these metal domes.
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Reckon that Atari 50 collection on the PC might be better value for money.
Huh, I don’t think I knew about that. So, it seems there was the Sears Video Arcade, which was a 2600 clone, and a Sears Video Arcade II, but the Intellivision clone was the Sears Super Video Arcade. And they were all branded as “Tele-Games”, but the Telegames Personal Arcade was a completely different thing that was a Colecovision clone. No wonder the market was precarious.
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A free emulator and downloaded games might be even better value ;
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Did anyone have one of these?
It’s from MAGNAVOX! 
Phone wire has 4 strands in the US. 
Not a phone wire, just the first picture of protected cables I found.
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