From: Zio zZz <zio@Garg.Campbell.CA.US>
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Reactor (Was RE: First side-scrolling game)
Keywords: reactor
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 92 01:33:40 PDT
Distribution: rec.games.video
Organization: The Land of Garg

drudetb@infonode.ingr.com (Ted B. Drude) writes:

> In article <2618@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM> bill@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.
> >
> >Reactor? Hmmm. Is that the nuclear reactor game where you had to contain
> >the reaction to the center of the screen with a rotating type of paddle?
>  
> Yes, your mission was to keep the reactor core from going critical
> (geting too big) by roaming around the outer corridor and smashing
> atomic particles into the walls,  or trapping them in the corners of the
> screen.  They tried to smash you into the walls,  too. It did take a
> while to catch on to it,  and, yes, it used a track-ball controller.
> 
> >I could never get the hang of the machine, but I could listen to that
> >music (noise?) for hours!
>  ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^  ^^^ ^^^^^
> Why do think I want to buy one now? I can almost forget the game,
> but that beat and those guitar riffs are still bouncing around in my
> head nine years later!  (Booompa-Booompa-Boompa-Boompa...) ;-)
> 
> - Ted Drude
> 
> 

Anyone have the Atari 2600 Reactor by Parker Brothers?  If so, (and sorry 
if this is common knowledge to y'all, but it seems to be NOT common 
knowledge around here,) how does getting lotsa lives to play around with 
sound to you?  Well, when you die, preferably around the 15000 point mark 
(seems to be the most effective), go along the top of the screen (make 
sure the chambers are at top, not bottom), and look for an invisible 
magnetic repelling field.  If you can find it and press up on it (not too 
fast else you will overpower the field and crash into the reactor wall) 
you will get points while you hold up.  This field scores in the same way 
as when the particles bounce on your ship and give you the odd few 
points...only here it is the odd few points at MAJOR high speed!  Leave 
it going for say an hour or two, and enjoy tens of ships!  I hear someone 
saying "What?!?  You think I am going to sit there holding the joystick 
up for an hour or two?!?!?!?"    Well, no, you could, but it is not 
necessary.  You can do a number of things to let it go on its own.
 
1) On an original Atari joystick, open it up and carefully lift the board 
out.  Use a small table vise to clamp the up pad.  This technique is a 
little tricky at first, but works with preactice (like a few minutes).

2) Get a spare 9 pin joystick cable from a defunct joystick.  Locate the 
power wire (trial and error, either use a multimeter or gametest it.)
   Multimeter method: Let's call one of the multimeter rods A, and the 
other B.  Attack one Joy wire to A, and another to B.  If a voltage is 
registered, then one of the wires is the power wire.  Take the one off of 
B, set it aside remembering its color.  pick another wire and put it on 
B.  If power registers again, then A is the power wire, else the original 
B is the power wire.  Just to test, try the one you determined is the 
power wire with every other wire.  All should register a voltage.
   Gametest method: This one is real trial and error, but just as simple. 
take two wires.  Touch them together.  (I will use Reactor as the example 
because it is easy to see results on)  If the ship moves in any 
direction, then one of the wires is power, the other is direction.  If 
the ship goes UP, then count yourself heaven blessed, or really damn 
lucky, since you just achieved the main goal.  To find out exactly which 
is power, touch one wire to the others to see if other reactions happen.  
When you find a wire that causes the others to do actions, that is 
(surprise) the power wire.
   When you have found UP and POWER, use them to simulate moving UP, 
after you have used a real joystick to find the place to go UP.
carefully tap the wires together and eventually join them and twist them 
together.  If you were careful about the movement of the UP, you should 
now be pushing against the field gathering points all over the place.
 
3) A unique way of employing the system above is to take the UP/POWER 
twisted whire and a joystic, and plug them bot into a 9pin A/B switcher 
(available from electronics and computer specialty stores).  Put the 
Joystick in A and the wirecable in B.  Connect the I/O 9pin to the Atari 
using a 9pin to 9pin cable (remember, in many cases, gender changers 
might be necessary, also available at electronics supply places.
Simple and cheap works well :)  ).  Put the switch on A, and play using 
the joystick.  Start the cheat using the Joystick, holding it in the UP 
position.  While holding it, reach over and switch the knob to B, 
transferring control to the UP/POWER wire connection cable you made.  
Then leave it to score you the mega points!  (If you must hold the 
joystick with two hands, make sure to ask a friend over to do the switch 
from A to B, and then you two can go out to eat or something :) - what a 
great way to pass the time waiting for your points to rack up. )
 
 
Also, I have a schematic for converting a Nintendo Controller to work on 
all 9pin systems.  All it takes is a Nintendo controller, a spare 9pin 
cable from a Joystick that died (but still has working cable, of course), 
a little soldering and desoldering, and a multimeter or gametest of the 
cable to find out EXACTLY which wire does what.
 
I won't post the schematic here, but anyone is welcome to it by mailing 
me here at Garg, and I will Email it to you as soon as I get your 
request.     Enjoy!!!!