Winter 2009/2010 Issue #14 4 Trading Thoughts 20 Hidden Gems Blue‘s Journey (Neo Geo) Video Game Flashback Dragon‘s Lair (NES) Hidden Gems 8 NES Archives p. 20 19 Page Turners Wrecking Crew Vintage Games 9 Retro Reviews 40 Made in Japan Coin-Op.TV Volume 2 (DVD) Twinkle Star Sprites Alf (Sega Master System) VectrexMad! AutoFire Dongle (Vectrex) 41 Video Game Programming ROM Hacking Part 2 11Homebrew Reviews Ultimate Frogger Championship (NES) 42 Six Feet Under Phantasm (Atari 2600) Accessories Mad Bodies (Atari Jaguar) 44 Just 4 Qix Qix 46 Press Start Comic Michael Thomasson’s Just 4 Qix 5 Bubsy: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? p. 44 6 Spike: Alive and Well in the land of Vectors 14 Special Book Preview: Classic Home Video Games (1985-1988) 43 Token Appreciation Altered Beast 22 Prices for popular consoles from the Atari 2600 Six Feet Under to Sony PlayStation. Now includes 3DO & Complete p. 42 Game Lists! Advertise with Video Game Trader! Multiple run discounts of up to 25% apply THIS ISSUES CONTRIBUTORS: when you run your ad for consecutive Dustin Gulley Brett Weiss Ad Deadlines are 12 Noon Eastern months. Email for full details or visit our ad- Jim Combs Pat “Coldguy” December 1, 2009 (for Issue #15 Spring vertising page on videogametrader.com. Kevin H Gerard Buchko 2010) Agents J & K Dick Ward February 1, 2009(for Issue #16 Summer Video Game Trader can help create your ad- Michael Thomasson John Hancock 2010) vertisement. Email us with your requirements for a price quote. P. Ian Nicholson Peter G NEW!! Low, Full Color, Advertising Rates! Jonathan Plombon Rob O’Hara Full page: 8.5‖ x 11‖ from $49 Video Game Trader Staff Nick Lombardo Dan Mahlendorf Half page: 7.5‖W x 5‖H from $29 EDITORS: Half page: 3.67‖W x 10‖H from $29 Dan Mahlendorf & Thomas Sansone Special Thanks: Jay Fennimore (www.j2games.com) & Joe COVER DESIGN: Quarter page: 3.67‖W x 5‖H from $19 Santulli (www.digitpress.com) Business card: 3.67‖W x 2.5‖H from $15 Michael Thomasson Video Game Trader Founder: Thomas Sansone PRICE GUIDE CONTRIBUTORS: Video Game Price Charts Video Game Trader (ISSN 1942-7409) Issue #14, Winter 2009/2010. Published quarterly by Isadoo Publishing, PO Box 632, Brick, NJ 08723. Rates: $19.95 (US), $24.95 (CAN), $39.95 (International). Periodicals Postage Paid at Brick, NJ and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Video Game Trader Magazine, PO Box 632, Brick, NJ 08723. © 2009 Isadoo Publishing. Reprint or reproduction of any material in part or in whole without the publishers‘ written permission is strictly forbidden. Editorial views expressed by contributing writers are not necessarily endorsed by Video Game Trader. All rights to letters and/or submitted articles/reviews sent to Video Game Trader will be treated as unconditionally assigned to Video Game Trader for publication unless they are labeled otherwise. Video Game Trader assumes no responsibility for the authority of advertisers to sell transferred property. Some Price Guide content © VideoGamePriceCharts.com and is used by permis- sion. Contact us via www.VideoGameTrader.com or [email protected]. nies in fad businesses have a more managed growth pattern. They don‘t build up the management structure Less Really Is to suit the peak years. Atari continued to beef up its ATARI INC., like any company with losses topping management, research and development and market- More $500 million a year, had a lot of problems. But most ing staffs—at one time an estimated 300—so that when industry analysts agree that one of its major handicaps sales abruptly stopped doubling and started plunging, Video Game Trader is going to be sent on a quarterly was that the video-game and home-computer firm had they toppled over.‖ basis from this point on. just grown too fat during its good years. Another problem was the company‘s basic struc- Still with me? Stings, don‘t it? Like quickly yanking a Jack Tramiel, controversial founder and former ture. The new management was trying to merge the band-aid off of a particularly sensitive wound, right? president of Commodore International Ltd., who has video-game and computer divisions, which had been Now before you fire up your email clients and send purchased the troubled subsidiary of Warner Communi- run separately, said a vice president of sales, inter- scathing emails demanding particular organs to be removed from Tom‘s body, hear me out for a few hun- cations Inc. in a deal valued at about $300 million, is viewed in February after Morgan had been chairman dred words. While I abhor the use of marketing buzz- known as the type of chief executive for whom the term for almost six months. phrases, ―less is more‖ really does sum up what we ―lean and mean‖ was invented. ―Not only was it costly, but it was counterproduc- here at V.G.T. are trying to do and hopefully in the next If anybody can make Atari profitable again, it‘s tive; neither side knew what the other was doing or couple paragraphs, you‘ll think so too. Tramiel, say friends and foes alike. But it is unlikely to planning.‖ he said then. We‘ve always wanted the magazine to grow. We be painless. That dual operation was one of Atari‘s main prob- started out as a humble online only mag that soon Within hours of his first walk-through of his new lems, said another executive no longer with the com- jumped to a 50/50 electronic/print format to finally the company Monday, Tramiel began wholesale layoffs, pany. ―There were two distinct staffs, both bloated, and product you have in your hands. However we‘ve which could cut as many as 1,000 persons off the they spent money like water.‖ he said. reached a fork in the road-do we continue on our sub- 5,000 member staff worldwide. Adding to the difficulties, observers say, was scription only path or do we attempt to travel up a large hill to have V.G.T. adorn retail shelves and introduce an By the end of his first week, he had made it clear Atari‘s handling the two products as if they had sepa- even larger audience to the glory of retro gaming? After that in addition to personnel cutbacks, there would be rate markets. ―Atari viewed the two marketplaces as much debate, we decided to take the more difficult path cost-cutting measures instituted throughout the com- separate: a video-game-machine market and a home- and go all out for brick-and-mortar domination. In order pany, including closing a manufacturing plant in El computer market. That was a big mistake.‖ the sales to do that we have to increase our page count to be Paso, Tex. He also had named his three sons to top executive said. ―They had the best computer on the able to be placed into stores BUT to do that we have to management positions. market for three years, voted as the ‗hobbyists‘ choice. reduce our the number of issues to maintain our budget. Even though V.G.T. is a labor of love and it is success- ―He was greeted with nothing short of terror by the They should have tried to combine the two and sell ful, it‘s still a business. There‘s just going to be some staff on his first day,‖ said a former executive who their low-end computer as a video game.‖ growing pains. keeps in touch with his one-time co-workers, whose The sale of Atari to Tramiel, who left Commodore morale has taken a roller-coaster ride along with the suddenly and without explanation in January, ―came So what does this change mean to you, John or Jane Q. Reader who took a chance and subscribed to our hum- company‘s profits and losses in the last five years. out of the blue,‖ said one spokesman for Commodore ble publication besides a longer wait between issues? The major problem with the Atari-Warner marriage, who has know Tramiel for seven years. which was consummated in 1976, when Warner Com- It was no secret that Atari was on the block, but the You will NOT lose any issues. Current subscribers will munications purchased Atari from founder Nolan Bush- primary suitor was perceived as N.V. Philips, the Dutch continue to get the same number of issues they paid for. It just won‘t be bi-monthly. nell for $15 million, was ―total mismanagement‖ by electronics firm, with whom negotiations had been Warner, said Harold Vogel, an analyst with Merrill continuing for months. Warner apparently just couldn‘t The pacing will give our writers more time to write and Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. in New York. get enough money out of Philips, one analyst said. polish their articles for your enjoyment (or just give them The former executive, who asked anonymity, con- Preliminary talks with Tramiel began in late May more time to procrastinate…*cough* like me *cough*). curs. ―Warner ran Atari like a movie studio.‖ he said. and intensified late last month, with the announcement The larger page count will allow even more articles to ―The engineers and conceptual people were the of the sale coming Monday. be in each and every issue. stars, and whatever they wanted they got. There was a Beyond the early blood-letting, speculation on After your current subscription is up, the rates will de- cadre of executives who rose quickly through the ranks Tramiel‘s moves vary.