TV-Game

[Xelotath]

Hi, I just bought a MS Pac-man Tv Game. I don't know if any of you buy it. Here's my little review on it:

First, the games it contains 5 namco classic: MS Pacman , Pole positon, Mappy, Galaga and Xevious, all great games. I don't know if it's an emulator in this, but they run great.

Second, Contruction. The controller itself contains the games, it feels solid and inst gonna break, but the joystick and buttons are a little cheap... they are not real arcade parts and the joystick is not really accurate but it gets the job done.

Value: I paid this 10$ CAD so it's really cheap I would recommand this to people who wants to have a quick game and have fun , it's easily portable and you can plug it on anything that supports AV cables.

Score: 75/100

I'm going at my friends place and I'll surely bring this .Maybe If you have a cab its useless to play at home, but I don't have a cab yet so it's good for quick games of nostalgia.

[RayB]

Uhhhhhhh, $10 cdn? Where? Wal-Mart has a few of these for $24.95 cdn. And then there's Urban Outfitters who have them priced at an outrageous $50 each.

So where'd you get such a deal?

[hunky_artist]

I love these things, I've still got to get all of them.

My only problem with them is that you can't plug them in, it's batteries only... I wonder how long they last.

[Minwah]

What do you think of the 'twist' joystick action for Pole Position?  Just wondered if it is any good...

[xcalibur]

Check out what bishmasterb did with these and a 15" tv:


http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=23215;start=msg196103#msg196103

[Xelotath]

yeah the twisting joystick is cool, it took me a while so see it twisted, in the manual thing it said rotate...

about the 10$ price, I bought it at a local game shop near where I live. I went to walmart today, 24$ can isn't that bad either. But where I buy mine they only had the ms pacman..., maybe I'll buy one at walmart later

[pointdablame]

I have the regular PacMan one of these and the atari one.

The PacMan is really cool... as was stated, the controls aren't great, but they are a lot of fun.  The Atari one leaves a bit to be desired though...

[RayB]

I got the Atari one as a gift, and it looks cool (feels nice and sturdy) but the games...... are crap.  

[javeryh]

Does anyone know the approximate dimensions of bishmasterb's mini-cabs (bishmasterb, perhaps  )?  They look too small for a 15" CRT...

[xcalibur]

Roughly, 16" wide, 20" deep, 26" tall.

I was mistaken, he used a 13" TV in one and a 14" VGA monitor in another.

[tcleary]

retroblast has some reviews of these things:


http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/jakks.html

pretty cool for cheap, but one bad thing is that they are not exactly like the arcade versions.

[MinerAl]

My only complaint with the Ms. Pac is that the joystick is an 8-way.  I've occasionally had the usual 8-way-stick-in-a-4-way-game problems.

The twisty stick for Pole Position is fun.  It is a self-centering 270

[Grasshopper]

My only complaint with the Ms. Pac is that the joystick is an 8-way.  I've occasionally had the usual 8-way-stick-in-a-4-way-game problems.

They did the opposite thing on the Pacman units. They fitted a 4 way joystick that plays Pacman surprisingly well, but Bosconian (one of the other bundled games) needs an 8 way stick. D'oh.

Still for the price you really can't complain.

[tep0583]

My brother's Pac-man unit has an 8-way.

Its REALLY hard to hit the diagonals, though. It might as well be a 4-way.

[Gunstar Hero]

Those things are great.

When I took my Pac-Man one over to show to my mom, she wouldn't let me leave with it. She said "This is mine now! You can find another!" Thanks Ma. =)

When I got a Ms. Pac-Man one, the colors were all bad. I imagine it was a defect, but ehh, I was starting on the MAME project and it was returned for another $30 in cabinet parts!

[bishmasterb]

Does anyone know the approximate dimensions of bishmasterb's mini-cabs (bishmasterb, perhaps  )?  They look too small for a 15" CRT...

xcalibur is right on the dimensions.

The 13" televisions work great, and let me put the back panel in place.

I squeezed a 14" VGA monitor into one, which barely fits, but doesn't allow the back panel to be installed.

[Tahnok]

Hmm... I'm thinking about getting one for a portable one player CP, but something is bugging me. I don't want to spend the money on the CP if it will only play those 5 games. So I'm thinking about putting a keyboard encoder into it along with the 5-in-1. Quick scetch:

    switch
       |
       ^
     |  |
     [] []
     |  |
     5  K

[]= Diode
5= 5-in-1
K= keyboard encoder

Correct? I think the diodes should stop anything weird from happing.

[Mario]

Are these games emulated, i.e., is it the real deal? I'm guessing no based on the screenshots. How well do they play when compared to the real games?

Thanks.

[bishmasterb]

They are not arcade perfect by any means, but they are relatively close.

If you're a purist, you'll think they're not close enough. If you're just building a cab for fun, they're good enough and easy to work with.

In any case, before you build, just check them out at Toys 'R Us, they usually have one of them on display that you can try out.

[pointdablame]

yeah, they are definitely not emulated.  They are reproductions.  The games are fairly close to original though, and they are more than playable.  And the most important part is that they are still fun to play.

[MinerAl]

They aren't emulated.  They look to be about the same quality as the Gameboy Color versions.

The main differences are a few sounds, and the horizontal screen with mostly originally-vertical games.

[telengard]

What do you think of the 'twist' joystick action for Pole Position?  Just wondered if it is any good...

I found it impossible to play myself.  Well, the shifting was pretty tough.  

[fatbasta]

My kids love the classic games, I had to build a Mini cabinet just for them using the Ms. Pacman 5n1.  check it out  http://members.cox.net/fatbasta/minipacman.htm  The only problem is that Pole Position doesn't work with a real Arcade joystick.  

[Gunstar Hero]

I liked the PolePos control myself. Best home version of PolePos I ever played anyways.

[fatbasta]

Has anyone tried those TV plug in games that they sell at flea markets and swapmeets?  The have like 400+ games, 2 controlers and a light gun.  They look like a cheap import (but isn't everything).  They sell for $20 - $40 depending on your bargining skills.  I've seen them played and the kid I was watching did pretty good on "Duck Hunt".  Has anyone else seen them and are they even close to the original games?

[telengard]

Has anyone tried those TV plug in games that they sell at flea markets and swapmeets?  The have like 400+ games, 2 controlers and a light gun.  They look like a cheap import (but isn't everything).  They sell for $20 - $40 depending on your bargining skills.  I've seen them played and the kid I was watching did pretty good on "Duck Hunt".  Has anyone else seen them and are they even close to the original games?

I've played one.  I had some generic name like "game controller" or something similar.  It had NES games, a lot of bootlegs too.  Seemed OK for the price.