JAKKS Adds More Namco, Atari Paddle TV Games

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting the press release discussing JAKKS Pacific's licensing of further classic Namco arcade games for their all-in-one 'TV game' line-up. The new "lightweight, compact, all-inclusive controller... will feature the classic games Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Xevious, and Mappy", and is a follow-up to a previously featured controller which featured other classics such as Pac-Man. JAKKS has also licensed Spider-Man for a stand-alone TV game, joining the other all-in-one games licensed from Atari, Activision, and others. The official site also has a list of forthcoming games, which look to include an as yet unannounced stand-alone Atari 2600 paddle controller.

Atari 10 in 1 kicks ass

[p4ul13]

I have the atari 10-in-1 and love it. My brother got me one of the bootleg 70+ NES games in one devices for christmas and it's pretty cool, but these official releases are a lot of fun. Only complaint is that you can't play the two player modes of some of the games.

Re:Atari 10 in 1 kicks ass

[ooby]

My friend found one of those bootleg NES console paddles at a flea market. The whole thing was very shady looking. It contained a bunch of authentic-looking games, and then another bunch of games that were clearly rip-off of legit games. Also, most of the game names were in Engrish.

Re:Atari 10 in 1 kicks ass

[p4ul13]

That's exactly it. It has a menu of "thousands" of games, but it's really 70 or so games listed a couple hundred times over. The thing itself is pretty shoddily built, and has mislabeled most of the games, but it's nice for a quick nostalgia fix...

Re:Atari 10 in 1 kicks ass mostly

[thirty2bit]

I bought the 10-in-1 last Christmas because it has my all-time favorite 2600 game: Adventure. The conversion wasn't quite 100% though. After finding the "invisible dot" and taking it to the key screen to reveal the Easter egg (credits), I found the credits weren't there but instead some graphic glitch was.

Maybe it was something (code?) crunched out during the process of making the ROMs fit into whatever guts makes up the thing.

But it was still cool as all getup!

Atari Paddles on a PC

[Xenolith]

Anyone find a way to hook up the Atari Paddles to a PC without doing major hacking?

MUST PLAY KABOOM!!

Re:Atari Paddles on a PC

[iocat]

Buy an Atari 800 on ebay and get Kaboom for it. It has an AWESOME 2-player mode (take turns being the mad bomber and the guy with the buckets... er... the buckets themselves... er... those weird paddles that the manual said were buckets).

Definitely worth the cash.

NES question

[Dark Paladin]

So will this ever lead to 10-in-1 NES/SNES systems? I know - there's the iQue in China, but I'd love to see a little handheld unit I can give to my kids (or myself) with Chrono Trigger/Final Fantasy III/Kid Icarus and the rest on it.

Re:NES question

[Thedalek]

Several such NES versions exist, some of which are legal. Check out this page [emucamp.com] to find details of some of them.

As for the SNES... After the days of the NES system, video game property rights changed dramatically. During the age of the Atari and Intellivision, the company who owned the system owned all the games, and the developing companies retained no rights.

Nintendo revolutionized this system, which was part of why developers were so happy to make games for the NES. The downside: 90% of the games for the SNES are owned by companies other than Nintendo.

Of course, since Square and Enix merged, they've put out a TV set-top Dragon Warrior game, so it wouldn't be impossible for them to create such a device containing some of their SNES greatest hits... However, a lot of video game companies are still kind of turned off at the whole idea of using solid state memory as a permanent storage medium.

Re:NES question

[simoniker]

Actually, I didn't think there had ever been a legal NES/Famicom 'TV Game' - do you have any proof of one?

I know there are a heck of a lot of knock-off, unofficial ones, though - I even saw one recently with a Famicom cartridge port in it, so you could play Japanese NES games on it, as well as the built-in titles, which included some amusing sprite-rips of classic NES titles with, say, a Teletubby inserted instead of Donkey Kong.

Re:NES question

[lightspawn]

I know there are a heck of a lot of knock-off, unofficial ones, though - I even saw one recently with a Famicom cartridge port in it, so you could play Japanese NES games on it

For a list of way too many knock-offs, check out Famiclones [emucamp.com]. Some of the stranger ones are meant to be mistaken for a SNES, Genesis, or even a Playstation.

Re:NES question

[Thedalek]

As a matter of fact, Pelican Accessories made a legal one just two years ago, dubbed Game Station Arcade [nesworld.com]. It didn't have any of the big-name NES games, but featured most of Camerica's line of gaems, including The Adventures of Captain Comic (which looked better on the NES, but was a better game on the PC).

Re:NES question

[shadowcabbit]

Wandering through the Buffalo, NY Walden Galleria mall, I found a kiosk that was displaying one of these knockoff systems. It had about 50 games included on it, but I didn't stop to ask about the legality of it-- I can only assume it's not entirely on the level. Next time I'm in there I'll try to snap a picture.

Finally!

[badfrog]

Ever since these Namco games (and all original 80's arcade games) were actually out in arcades, it was always disappointing that the home versions were so much different, and usually lousy.
I always said "Someday we'll get home versions that are exactly the same."

Didn't think it would take 20-25 years though.
(Not counting MAME of course. I'm talking TV.)

MAME + other emulators still beats these packages

[British]

Provided you can get the ROMs, you can play thousands of games, for free.

Re:MAME + other emulators still beats these packag

[StocDred]

No kidding, moron. These aren't meant for anybody who's ever heard of MAME. These are meant for Mr. & Mrs. Average, who walk past the racks of them at Toys R Us.

Furthermore, some of us would prefer playing these games on a big tv with an appropriate-styled joystick... without wasting our time plodding through shady illegal ROM sites. And, bonus, here's a way to actually own the games instead of stealing them.