APF MP1000 game console from 1978

APF MP1000 game console from 1978

The APF MP1000 was a second generation video game console produced by APF, a small New York City based electronics firm that started out producing calculators, moved to a first-generation console called TV Fun that played Pong-type video games on an ordinary TV, and then decided to try to build on that success by going up against Atari and Mattel. In this blog post, we’ll talk about this rare 1978 game console.

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How many Atari Jaguar games are there?

How many Atari Jaguar games are there?

The Atari Jaguar console was an infamous flop that led to Atari exiting the console business. One of the problems the console had was not having enough games, and not having enough AAA titles. But how many Atari Jaguar games were there?

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Why did people like Atari?

Why did people like Atari?

I don’t know who needs to know, but I’m wearing my Atari t-shirt as I write this. I’m not sure if it was Steve Fulton or Jeff Fulton who said this and a podcast, or they may have said it in unison. But they said anyone much younger than them sums up Atari in one word: sucks. Yet their best selling console sold more than 20 million units, so somebody must have liked it. In this blog post, I’ll explore why people liked Atari.

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Connect a Wii to a smart TV

Connect a Wii to a smart TV

Just because you have a new shiny Smart TV doesn’t mean you don’t want to enjoy some of your favorite video games of the past. But it’s not always clear how to connect your old Wii to a new smart TV. In this blog post, I will cover the various options to hook up a classic Nintendo Wii to a smart TV, or any other type of digital flat panel TV.

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Atari Jaguar won’t power on? Try this

Atari Jaguar won’t power on? Try this

The most common problem with an Atari Jaguar is not being able to power it on. Usually this is due to user error rather than a hardware fault, so here’s how to quickly fix the problem.

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Why the Atari Jaguar is so expensive

Why the Atari Jaguar is so expensive

Atari’s final game console of the 20th century was a console called the Jaguar. It entered a crowded game console market when it was released in late 1993, and it left the market in 1996 with more of a whimper than a roar. Today, it is a prized collectors item. Here’s why the Atari Jaguar is so expensive.

Launched in November 1993 at a price of $249 and soon reduced to $199, and then to $159 and $99, the Jaguar is worth considerably more than that today. Read more

NES launch titles

NES launch titles

The NES launch titles were the 18 games released alongside the Nintendo Entertainment System during its North American launch on October 18, 1985. All of the launch titles belong to the Black Box series of games. The lineup was something of a mixed bag, but it was carefully balanced for a tepid American market.

When the NES launched, there were eighteen games available for it, a line-up that included four sports games, three light gun games, two ROB games, two racing games, an edutainment title, and six other miscellaneous games. Many of them were conversions from arcade titles, which is unsurprising since arcade games were Nintendo’s core business at the time.

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VTI 73192 E4002: The Atari knockoff

VTI 73192 E4002: The Atari knockoff

An unassuming chip, labeled VTI 73192 E4002, lurks within the Atari compatibility products of the 1980s that made Coleco and other video game consoles compatible with the Atari 2600. Here’s what that chip does and why it was important.

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Atari 7800 vs NES

Atari 7800 vs NES

Both the Atari 7800 and NES were third generation game consoles, and they competed directly with one another. Furthermore, they shared a common influence. So the Atari 7800 vs NES is a natural comparison. But one was much more successful than the other. Here’s why.

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Atari 2600 vs 7800

Atari 2600 vs 7800

The Atari 2600 and 7800 are directly related. After the Atari 5200 flopped, Atari needed a better successor to take over for the aging 2600. So the Atari 2600 vs 7800 is a natural comparison. Let’s look at the improvements the 7800 had over its predecessor, and why it wasn’t able to match the 2600’s runaway success.

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