tell me about the Astrocade

[toptenmaterial]

Who here has owned the Astrocade? Is it worth buying, and for how much? Any fun games? Any homebrew? How do the graphics and sound stack up against the 2600? Are the controllers any good?

[mckafka99]

Probably everything you might want to know about the Astrocade can be found on the following:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/

http://retroauction.com/buying-and-selling-an-astrocade/

 

If you can get a good working unit and a arrange a means to keep it safe and cool (I keep mine on top of a laptop fan when in use), there are some fun games for it.

[Greg2600]

Very expensive and very fragile, prone to static electricity damage and overheating on a rug.

[akator]

I loved mine. Awesome controllers. I was forced to sell it off along with tons of other things a few years ago, and it didn't survive shipping to the buyer. I packed it incredibly well, so that's a testament to how fragile these (now) are.

 

Knowing what I know now, I would not buy one online (even if the seller is honest) because of the fragility and ease of damage during shipment. If you can get one in person, definitely go for it because it's a great system to at least experience in person. The uniqueness of the system and controllers cannot be emulated.

Edited May 5, 2013 by akator

[BassGuitari]

A lot of people will tell you you HAVE to remove the RF shielding to prevent overheating. Having done this to three different Astrocades, and having three different Astrocades die on me after the procedure after working perfectly before, I'll say this: if you get an Astrocade and it works, LEAVE IT THE F@#$ ALONE. As long as you use it on a hard surface you should be fine. If you're still concerned about overheating, use a laptop cooler. Just don't start taking things apart inside.

 

Astrocades are inordinately failure-prone, and thus tend to be pretty expensive. That said, they're great. Graphically, imagine the Channel F and the Intellivision had a lovechild; the graphics are relatively high-res (especially for 1977), but usually had the limited blue/red/yellow/green color palette, but it would be another three or four years before other systems started matching its resolution. The combination joystick/paddle controller is one of the most brilliant of all of classic gaming. Quite a few games used both functions, which makes this system really tough to get the feel of in emulation. Additionally, the system supports up to four at a time.

 

The games themselves are top-notch. The Incredible Wizard is an almost arcade-perfect port of The Wizard of Wor with larger-than-life sound. An excellent adaptation of Gunfight is even built into the console (compare to Atari's Outlaw or, for shits and giggles, RCA's Gunfighter). It probably has the best Galaxian game of any pre-crash home console, except maybe the Colecovision. Audio is definitely a big draw for the Bally though. Most games just *sound* like arcade games, and when you hear one, you know it.

 

Using the Bally BASIC cartridge and the console's keypad (which is, admittedly, pretty unwieldy for BASIC programming), you can even program things and save/load from cassette tape. Like, *actual* programs, not the dinky nothings Atari's BASIC Programming cart or Odyssey 2's Computer Intro! cart let you do. The Bally was truly a straight-up computer in all but name, if in an abbreviated form (no full-size keyboard, requires cartridge for data I/O connection). Actually, no, it even had the name; most of the dust lid name badges read "Bally Computer System."

 

It's amazing how much of an underdog this system was despite being a more powerful and capable machine than all of its competitors until around the time the Intellivision came along, and the Bally could even hold its own against that. There's a marketing lesson in there.

[Greg2600]

The graphics for a system that came out in 1978 or whatever are astounding, putting the 2600 and Intellivision to shame. Cost is a major obstacle, and like I said, the fragility.

[+Gemintronic]

I owned one for a brief second. Turns out it was dead. Did have fun reading through the manual for their dialect of BASIC.

[CatPix]

Jeez. I want one, but this make me chilly about it. Especially since I live overseas, meaning that I can only get one by shipping, can't pick any at somebody's home :/

[Seob]

Using the Bally BASIC cartridge and the console's keypad (which is, admittedly, pretty unwieldy for BASIC programming), you can even program things and save/load from cassette tape. Like, *actual* programs, not the dinky nothings Atari's BASIC Programming cart or Odyssey 2's Computer Intro! cart let you do. The Bally was truly a straight-up computer in all but name, if in an abbreviated form (no full-size keyboard, requires cartridge for data I/O connection). Actually, no, it even had the name; most of the dust lid name badges read "Bally Computer System."

The Odyssey2 can do the same, but you need the C7420 module. This is a module that uses Microsoft Basic and has a tape input to save and load games of cart.

The Astrocade never came out here, would have loved to own one. On my holiday last week i was reading some old game magazine and there was a article on the astrocade being relived, just as the Channel F. In the article they where comparing the different systems out on the market and there pro's and con's. Was nice to read.

I think you need to discharge you're self and ground the unit before opening and working on it.

[+Gemintronic]

Oh, I forgot to mention why I never bothered to repair the thing. The feel of the joysticks is just weird. I couldn't imagine getting comfortable with the layout.

 

It's one of those things you think you can put up with until you actually have them in your hands.

[Austin]

Let me tell you all I know about the Astrocade!

 

 

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..it's awesome.

[Scotterpop]

For a classic system, they are quite expensive. Every time I watch one of these on an online auction site the price always spirals out of my price range. If you really want one, expect to pay a good $100 or so.

[boxpressed]

Probably everything you might want to know about the Astrocade can be found on the following:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/

http://retroauction....g-an-astrocade/

 

If you can get a good working unit and a arrange a means to keep it safe and cool (I keep mine on top of a laptop fan when in use), there are some fun games for it.

 

I wrote the second article linked to by mckafka99 (thanks for that--very happy!), and I believe that an Astrocade is very much worth owning--if you approach the ownership the way you would for an antique car. Yes, you like to drive it once in a while, but just having it and appreciating its historic value generates the most pleasure for you. As I said in the article, you must be a person who can deal with disappointment in a mature way as you search for a working unit.

[TheGameCollector]

With all the talk about dead units, has anyone successfully repaired one?

[BassGuitari]

With all the talk about dead units, has anyone successfully repaired one?

 

Not really. 99% (best guess) of the failures are overheated custom ICs that haven't been made in 30 years.

 

All it would take is to swap out a dead video processor with a working one. Unfortunately, they just don't exist. I'd imagine if somebody got some Chinese company to make a bunch of them, there'd be a booming cottage industry in selling them to people with dead Astrocades.

[BassGuitari]

The Odyssey2 can do the same, but you need the C7420 module. This is a module that uses Microsoft Basic and has a tape input to save and load games of cart.

The Astrocade never came out here, would have loved to own one.

 

The C7420 never came out here. But it sounds like something the Odyssey 2 should definitely have had in the US. From the sound of it (and the YouTube clips I just looked up), I'd love to track one down, but I don't know what the rarity situation is or whether I'd be able to use it with an NTSC Odyssey (I'm guessing probably not).

[Seob]

The C7420 never came out here. But it sounds like something the Odyssey 2 should definitely have had in the US. From the sound of it (and the YouTube clips I just looked up), I'd love to track one down, but I don't know what the rarity situation is or whether I'd be able to use it with an NTSC Odyssey (I'm guessing probably not).

Won't work since the module only works on the Philips G7400 or Jopac 7400 the European release of the Odyssey3 Command Center. Somebody is trying to make a C7420 module emulated by using mbed.

[Serious]

I owned a Bally Professional Arcade for about 15 years. I bought it NIB around 1997, didn't use it much after I had it for 3 years. I never ran into the overheating problem. I guess I was just lucky.

 

I really like the system, and I have mixed feelings about having sold mine.

 

I love the controllers. I know others feel differently.

 

Incredible Wizard is the game to have for this system. It sounds and feels like a Bally arcade game, and is arguably the best port for Wizard of Wor for any system (the C64 version is very nice, as well).

 

I had about a dozen other games for it, and didn't care that much for most of them. Galaxian was the only other one I remember playing much of (though it was retitled as Galactic Invasion or something, due to licensing issues).

 

I tried to get Muncher for it when I had mine, which looks like a great port of Pac-Man, but never found it.

 

The recent homebrew release of Crazy Climber for the Astrocade looks awesome.

[128Kgames]

Probably everything you might want to know about the Astrocade can be found on the following:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/

http://retroauction....g-an-astrocade/

 

If you can get a good working unit and a arrange a means to keep it safe and cool (I keep mine on top of a laptop fan when in use), there are some fun games for it.

 

You could also consider joining the Yahoo! Bally group:

 

http://tech.groups.y...oup/ballyalley/

 

A lot of us here are members there, myself included.

 

Very expensive and very fragile, prone to static electricity damage and overheating on a rug.

 

I don't find them any more expensive than most other vintage machines. Problem is finding a working one, which is one of the reasons some auctions go so high. Sad thing is I've seen people bidding on systems with no proof they work, which is not something you can do with this system.

 

Untested=NOT WORKING

 

Never heard of static being any issue, but static can be a problem for any electronic device. Change overheating on a rug to just plain overheating, which you can chalk up to an RF shield designed after the consoles were.

 

I loved mine. Awesome controllers. I was forced to sell it off along with tons of other things a few years ago, and it didn't survive shipping to the buyer. I packed it incredibly well, so that's a testament to how fragile these (now) are.

 

Knowing what I know now, I would not buy one online (even if the seller is honest) because of the fragility and ease of damage during shipment. If you can get one in person, definitely go for it because it's a great system to at least experience in person. The uniqueness of the system and controllers cannot be emulated.

 

Best

Controllers

Ever

 

Hands down, best controllers of their generation. Simple and efficient, and with a "paddle" no less. Never found them any more fragile to ship than other systems. What exactly got damaged?

 

A lot of people will tell you you HAVE to remove the RF shielding to prevent overheating. Having done this to three different Astrocades, and having three different Astrocades die on me after the procedure after working perfectly before, I'll say this: if you get an Astrocade and it works, LEAVE IT THE F@#$ ALONE. As long as you use it on a hard surface you should be fine. If you're still concerned about overheating, use a laptop cooler. Just don't start taking things apart inside.

 

Having collected them for over 13 years now (not to mention owning one back when they were originally released) I kind of have to agree with you on this. I was always one to advocate removing the RF shield to prevent the systems from overheating. They aren't needed anymore anyway, unless you're still using an old tube TV or something.

 

But I've run into your situation myself where a system worked just fine with it, and then gave me problems after it was removed. And this despite the fact that I'm a PC technician by trade and should know what I'm doing around a motherboard.

 

I point my finger at the custom IC chip that is smothered in what must have passed for thermal paste back in the day. There is supposed to be a heatsink making contact with it which is usally riveted to the RF shield. More often then not its not even touching, and you would think the chip would heat up and die just because its got paste on it and no 'sink to help dissipate the heat. But some of them keep right on running.

 

So although I still think removing the shield is the right thing to do, you could in fact cause yourself some problems where none existed.

 

Catch 22, sorry.

 

All in all, it's a really great system and one of my two all time favorites (the Neo Geo AES being the other). You just have to do your homework before you buy one online, that or buy one from a trusted member (if you can them to part with it).

Edited May 8, 2013 by TMOSteel

[akator]

Hands down, best controllers of their generation. Simple and efficient, and with a "paddle" no less. Never found them any more fragile to ship than other systems. What exactly got damaged?

 

Agreed about the controllers, I absolutely love them.

 

The system left working, my wife and I played it for over an hour the night before I packed it for shipping. The following day everything was individually wrapped in bubble wrap, then packed with styro peanuts. The buyer said the console turned on but the controllers only worked intermittently. He claimed this was because of a bad chip and that there was no way it could have worked properly when I shipped it. It wasn't worth fighting over so I refunded his money and filed a postal insurance claim.

 

I've read a lot of other threads, even here at Atari Age, of people having problems keeping their Astrocades running. Maybe I lucked out and the system coincidentally started dying during shipment instead of on my console shelf or being played, or maybe the buyer was scamming me, I'll never know

[boxpressed]

I fired up my Astrocade yesterday because this thread made me want to play some Incredible Wizard and Space Fortress. I was expecting it to be flaky because that's how it was acting when I last played it. It did flake out for a minute or two -- blank screen, glitchy menu and play screens, etc. However, after it warmed up, it performed perfectly for about an hour. Now, I have no idea why this is happening, but I wonder if I should have been pointing the finger at faulty ICs when the power supply and system may be the culprits.

 

I can't explain why, but even with its limited library and quirks, this console is just so fun to have and play. I love the controllers, btw.

[kenzre]

I have found that when I repair the Astrocades, one of the problems that happens during shipping is that the 3 custom chips may work themselves loose. Reseating them may fix the problem of one that is working before shipping and gets there dead. Remember that the post office, UPS and theres have Magilla the Gorilla handling them. If it says fragile, they see how far they can throw it before the box breaks. There are several parts that frequently go bad.The voltyage regulators are sometimes to blame as is some of those 35 year old capacitors. Once in a while it is the custom chips, but not as often as everyone makes out. Various thins can be wrong so I go through a set procedure to find the problem (most times). Some parts are simply not being made anymore.

[Jess Ragan]

I had one of these machines for about, hmm, seven years? I wound up selling it to another AtariAge member to make ends meet, but I can't say I regretted the time I spent with it. Here are some stray observations about the system from my now defunct web site:

 

http://lakupo.com/grblitz/astrocade.htm

 

Some other points worthy of note:

 

There is actually no such thing as a "Bally Astrocade." The machine was first known as the Bally Professional Arcade, then the Astrocade after the rights to the system were sold to Astrovision.

 

The controllers are basically small thumbsticks set atop pistol grips. The grips make the controller stunningly ergonomic for late 1970s technology, and very comfortable to hold. The thumbsticks themselves twist like dials, which means that they can be used as paddles in compatible games BUT also is handy for choosing game modes. There's no need to touch the console itself; just dial in the number of players and the game mode and squeeze the trigger to select them. I cannot stress enough how convenient this is, especially if the keypad on your unit is on the fritz.

 

Some models of the Astrocade come in white, rather than the standard-issue woodgrain. I had the white model myself, and it's apparently pretty hard to find, even by Astrocade standards.

 

The Astrocade is one of the first consoles to use arcade hardware. Arcade machines like GORF, Wizard of Wor, and Space Zap use two Astrocade processors, which is why the latter two games are so close to their arcade counterparts despite the low resolution.

 

As others have mentioned, The Incredible Wizard is an absolute must for any Astrocade owner. The resolution is appallingly low and some sound effects are missing, but past that it's astonishingly close to the arcade game. It's far and away superior to the 2600 version and even gives the 5200 game a run for its money.

 

I never had overheating issues with my Astrocade while I had it, but then again, I didn't spend much time playing it. I'm not sure how you would address the issue, to be honest. Maybe someone could invent an Astrocade on a chip, but I don't think there's enough nostalgia for the machine to make it worthwhile for a manufacturer to do this.

 

The homebrew community for the Astrocade is kind of small compared to the 2600, Vectrex, or ColecoVision, but it's out there. Two homebrew titles of note include War (Warlords with insanely good graphics) and Crazy Climber.

[kenzre]

With all the talk about dead units, has anyone successfully repaired one?

I am the only person I know of in the world that is still repairing them