I think it depends on type. here's a quick vid of an NPN:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VK_4gZU__I[/youtube][/url]

Wow, I've had Tempest over five years.

Anyway, my greatest arcade fear was the monitor dying on Tempest. It basically separates the men from the children, in my mind. Everyone said that the 6100 color vector monitor goes eventually. But things have a habit of working out for me. I didn't think it would ever strike.

It struck! I lost the bottom half of the screen.

There's information, of course. Thank God for the information. The transistor at Q706 needs to be replaced.

I've learned much! Not enough to stop people on the #arcade channel at EnterTheGame to not call me a retard, but I've learned much.

Mostly, thanks to this: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_VAtari6.html

I will probably start a thread and write everything in there down so we don't lose it.

I ordered a pair of 2N3716 transistors to replace the one that my readings told me isn't working right. I didn't quite get the process down for testing transistors, though. I know there are three connection points, and you test them all against each other?

[quote="bruce"]I mean, she took a lot of warming up. But once she was there, you could touch her, literally, [i]anywhere[/i]--like her shoulder--and she'd come.[/quote]

..squirtage? That's the only way you know for *sure* they're not faking it.

[quote="AArdvark"]phone number?[/quote]

I don't know anymore.

I tried to look her up the last time I visited ICJ--she used to live quite near--but I could not find her.

Anyway, she's married and has at least two kids now.

Bruce

phone number?



THE
JUST CHECKING
AARDVARK

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]I can assure you all that the superzapper will go off if someone just walks by the machine now. Perfect. It's perfect.[/quote]

I dated a girl like that once.

I mean, she took a lot of warming up. But once she was there, you could touch her, literally, [i]anywhere[/i]--like her shoulder--and she'd come. It was cool, but also kinda scary.

Bruce

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]
Has any game ever transmogrified its player into a cruel likeness of the game's avatar like Tempest does? [/quote]

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker comes to mind.

As does Custer's Revenge.

Bruce

The last time there were some people over, I was hearing reports of the superzapper button not being very responsive. I finally had a chance to play some Tempest tonight and sure enough, you had to hit it perfectly in the center for the superzapper to register. That won't do.

I needed to find the manual to Tempest. The guy I bought it from gave me a Xeroxed copy, but I was really hoping to find the PDF so I could throw that out. Luckily, the PDF is located on the KLOV.com site, on Tempest's specific page.

I then saw how they want you to open the control panel: they want you to reach your hand through the coin box and open up the "luggage latches." What the fuck is a luggage latch?

Well, [url=http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/CRT/CRT228/15325-22IL.jpg]this[/url].

I own one piece of purple luggage. It does not have any latches on it. But knowledge is power.

I felt around the inside of the cab and undid the latches. It was very sexy. I opened the control panel and had a look at the superzapper. I didn't have any leaf switches around to replace the one in there, but it really didn't need to be replaced. It was a little loose and a little bent out of shape. I tightened things down and gave it a slight, but firm push. I want the superzapper to be on a hair trigger. I want, when the Tempest claw is finally brought before a court of law for its numerous crimes against meanies, for the trial to not even bother registering the amount of pressure it takes to set off the superzapper, because everyone just knows it's as slight as all hell. I want a box of feathers and angel farts to at least be able to "superzap" anything either of those two entities face in the game.

I can assure you all that the superzapper will go off if someone just walks by the machine now. Perfect. It's perfect.

I hugged my Tempest and came in here to write this shit up, in case anyone Googling for "Tempest control panel open" wonders how the hell you get to that thing like I did. I should also upload the manual to pdf.textfiles.com.

Those panties are sexy (minus the crabs).

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

I looked at that and all I saw were a pair of panties with small red crabs running about on them!!

THE
PRICELESS
AARDVARK

Also, everyone can enjoy this:

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/tempest/tempest.htm

It talks about the aborted attempts to bring Tempest to the 2600. It's amazing that the programmer got even that far.

A few days after I posted the above message I hit 155,400.

Yesterday I was determined to play the game until I broke my high score.

It took me an hour to get to the second "wave." After you go through 16 screens the game turns from blue to red and a new enemy comes out called the pulsars. They are evil. They electrify the field. It should not take me an hour to get to the 17th board (the first on wave two).

The correct word is probably not wave, but what the hell.

Anyway, I ended up playing it for about 80 minutes straight and had to stop because my right arm, which controls shooting, was locked up in claw-like form [i]just like the claw you play in Tempest itself.[/i] Has any game ever transmogrified its player into a cruel likeness of the game's avatar like Tempest does? This is like repeated exposure to Nethack making your forefinger curl grotesquely around itself. I guess it's called "repetitive stress syndrome" or something. Not 100% sure, but I could not lift my right arm when I went to bed last night. (It was fine when I woke up.)

Additionally, while playing the game I noticed that on three occasions it let loose with a medium-pitched tone. I thought it was because I got into the top-three scores (which it saves to RAM). Found out today I activated something called the "slam switch." They were installed on games to combat customer abuse: if the arcade operator heard this go on he could go investigate because it meant that a player was being too rough with the machine. I wasn't being too rough, I was just [i]playing[/i] the thing.

Anyway, I had never heard of either of those two events happening, so there you go. I did break my previous high by a measly 400 points. I tried to play tonight but did not even get to the second wave. I'm terrible at this game.

Also, my current high score is 107,053. I have had it for seven days. I am curious how that stacks up to other people around here. I think I'm fucking terrible at this game, but I would like some confirmation.

[quote="pinback"][quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Yeah, Bruce pretty much nailed it.[/quote]

I thought we weren't going to say things like "nailed it" around Bruce anymore.[/quote]

Yeah, I can't get past level 13 (the "star" level). I read an interview with the guy who designed it and he tuckered out around level 80.

What gets me is that he would write his code and then give it to someone to type into the computer. That is pretty much the antithesis of how I make computer programs, which is more about trying something that I think will work, booting up hewin.exe, seeing the linefeeds be all wrong and trying again.

The maddening thing is that it lets you pick the level you want to start on. Wait, that's the good part. The part that maddens is that you have to "earn" your way towards starting on a level past level 9. Level 9 it lets any asshole start with. If you want to look like a real prick, play a two player game and after player 1 picks the first board, you go pick level 9. You'd be a dick to do this.

But to go beyond that? And start at a higher level? You have to [i]prove[/i] to the game that you can do it and you do it... by doing it.

For instance: let's say you make it to level 13 and die. It doesn't let you start on even levels, only odd ones. So you have "unlocked" the ability to start at level 11. Cool! But if you die before completing level 11 then you will lose your unlock and be right back into Losertown. Do you know who the Mayor of Losertown is? It's Level 9 in Tempest.

I wish there were some sort of credential system in the game. I played it for an hour tonight and got past level 11 for most of that time. I fuck up once and it's right back down to level 9. I wish it did voice recognition. "I am Benjamin 'Pinback' Parrish and I verify that ICJ can start at level 13. Or 15. Just trust me." That would be fine.

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Yeah, Bruce pretty much nailed it.[/quote]

I thought we weren't going to say things like "nailed it" around Bruce anymore.

Yeah, Bruce pretty much nailed it.

[quote="pinback"]How many STARS would you give your Tempest game?[/quote]

"ALL OF THEM."

Bruce

How many STARS would you give your Tempest game?

I just verified that it's the 12 ROM version which means I can get the Tempest Tubes kit from eBay and install it by only removing one chip. Awesome. A whole nother arcade game awaits! I'm a big fan of the multi-gaming kit thing. The Ms. Pac cab has a Space Invaders clone and I've been writing my father weekly about how he needs to visit for Christmas so I can get his name in the high score bank. (He used to play the 2600 version of Space Invaders constantly with Knuckles and I when we were kids.)

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Oh! I forgot to mention! There is a FRIGGING ARCADE a few towns over....There is also a bar attached to this place. And a restaurant. And live music. And billiards. Basically, it's the greatest goddamn place on the face of the planet [/quote]

Truly, this is the Happiest Place On Earth.

Bruce