"DEAR AGH" (July/August, 1997) From: M. Martino Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 Subject: Arcade Game Hello, I'm a Star Trek collector, and am very interested in buying the Star Trek arcade game, that you have pictured from Sega (1983). Please e-mail me information that you have on the game. included cost, and shipping charges. If possible, how many are in circulation. John Replies: I think that Star Trek that's pictured on our page came from a scan of Electronic Fun Magazine, circa 1982. Try contacting the editor of the mag to see if they still have it available. Happy hunting! ----- From: HTP4718677@*.com Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 Subject: read Do you know if Telegames will make any new games for the Jaguar and also is there such a game out for the jaguar called mortal kombat 3 Les Replies: Telegames is set to release Worms and Zero 5 before the end of this year. As for Mortal Kombat 3, Atari hinted that they may bring it to the Jaguar, but nothing ever came of it. If you're dying for an excellent game with gruesome fatalities, you may want to check out Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story . ----- From: A. Avecilla Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 Subject: looking for info on the atari profolio if you have any info on the atari profolio please send John Replies: Perhaps you mean the Portfolio? It was an 8086-based palmtop computer that was marketed by Atari for a short time. There's really no utility in having one at this moment in time, and only die-hard Atari collectors will care to have one. ----- From: Shalise@webtv.* Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 Subject: how much and what How muchis your atari 7800 and the games. How much is atari 500 video system x and what do it look like and games(tape). Keita Replies: Sorry, but we explicitly state in our trade page that we strongly prefer trading instead of selling. We're not dealers by any means, but merely gamers and collectors like everyone else out there. Let us know if you have anything on our want list that you can offer us. I've never heard of the Atari 500 Video System X. If you mean "Atari 5200 Video System X", we have a 5200 but not a Video System X. We would reckon that you're referring to the latter. ----- From: WHTPWR14@*.com Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 Subject: question? I just played "Mace...The Dark Ages" and liked it a lot....what systems or pc's will it come out on when and will Atari be making a new system soon? Les Replies: Mace: The Dark Age is slated for release on the Playstation and Nintendo 64 in time for the holiday season, with a likely port to the PC as well. Atari Corp. (the home videogame company) is now a wholly owned subsidiary of JTS Corp., a PC hard drive manufacturer and has no plans at this time to make a new game console. Keep in mind that Atari (Atari Games) the coin-op company is an entirely seperate entity from the former Atari Corp. ----- Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 From: Mike Subject: Please Read Dear AGH, I am interested in creating a sequal for the Atari Lynx game, Todd's Adventures In Slime World. I would be making it for the PC, and I was wondering how I could go about doing this legally. Would I have to buy the rights to this product? If so, how would I occomplish this? Keita Replies: Rarely has a company ever allowed one of their commodities to be used without a proper licensing agreement or consent, and Atari is no exception. While it's true that Atari Corp. is no longer marketing and producing systems and consoles, they ARE still active in the videogame licensing business. Tempest 2000 for Saturn and PC, and Tempest X for Playstation are perfect examples of this. While Slime World is not nearly a valuable property to Atari as say, Centipede is, you might want to contact Mr. John Skrutch at JTS/Atari just to cover your behind should the company once again decide to enter the gaming market. ----- Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 From: S. Jacobs Subject: Tower Toppler question.... Hi guys, I'm hoping you may be able to answer this, as I can't find the info on the net. This afternoon I received a shrinkwrapped copy of Tower Toppler (7800) in the mail , which I had picked up from a Usenet auction for $1 !! Anyway, I had never played it, and was very impressed with both the graphics, and the gameplay, considering it was a 7800 cart (I really preferred the 5200, and actually still like the 5200 more than most current games). Well, at the end of my game, I was given the opportunity to enter my initials to the high score table. Knowing that the 7800 was a contemporary of the NES, and that the NES had battery-backups in it's carts, I started to get excited, thinking that perhaps TT also had a battery-storage facility to store the high score table. Unfortunately, once I removed the cartridge and reinserted it, the high scores were restored to the original defaults. Do you know if the cart had a battery, in which case it is probably just dead, or did the game simply lose the high scores once it lost power? If it did indeed have a battery, do you know if I can purchase a workable replacement anywhere? I just don't want to tear my cartridge apart to find out there is no battery if you guys can tell me first. John Replies: Yes, Tower Toppler is an amazing programming achievement on the 7800. The rotating towers are a beauty to behold. Unfortunately, not a single ProSystem cartridge has built-in battery backup to speak of. Even NES games did not have them in the beginning of the system's life as it was a costly solution to what companies believed would be a minor benefit to gamers. While we're at it, here's a little tidbit for you. When the 7800 originally was introduced at the 1984 CES, Atari announced a "Hi-Score Cartridge" for the system which would allow scores to be saved on the cart. However, this item mysteriously disappeared from sight and was never to be seen again. ----- From: DMeierdier@*.com Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 Subject: jaguar Jaguar rules! If Atari had continued advertising they would have become the most popular game system out there. The commercials were great but they needed many more of them. But because of their lack of advertising most of my friends have no idea what an Atari Jaguar is. Once I show my Jaguar to my friends they are always impressed. Tell them to continue creating quality games and to try some more commercials! Jag's biggest fan Les Replies: Turn out the lights already, the party's over! Atari is no longer in the videogame business. That does not take away the fact that the Jaguar is a terrific gaming value considering its price (with many games available at deep discounts), so enjoy Jag like the rest of us, but don't expect a resurrection of the cat to battle the likes of Playstation of Nintendo 64.