Thoughts on Asteroids

[LouieYellowFox]

The 5200 version of Asteroids was going to be a launch title, but it was never released, for controller reasons. When you look at it, the game doesn't even look much better than the 2600 version. If it had been released, people might've said this version was inferior.

2600 has Space Rocks

7800 has Asteroids Deluxe

Jaguar has Rebooteroids

Now, the only system that actually does need a proper Asteroids would be the 5200. One that actually looks and plays like the arcade. A 5200 Asteroids Arcade, with Asteroids Deluxe included, maybe.

[Keatah]

Since the 5200 is really and Atari 400 computer, and the 8-bit computers are powerful enough to emulate the Asteroids arcade roms.. It's just a matter of someone being motivated to do it.

 

It is important to keep in mind what was available at the time. Space Rocks didn't exist back then. Space Rocks is a game written on modern hardware which is using a modern processor. Big difference.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Keatah

[LouieYellowFox]

Since the 5200 is really and Atari 400 computer, and the 8-bit computers are powerful enough to emulate the Asteroids arcade roms.. It's just a matter of someone being motivated to do it.

 

It is important to keep in mind what was available at the time. Space Rocks didn't exist back then. Space Rocks is a game written on modern hardware which is using a modern processor. Big difference.

I know that the games I listed are homebrews, not games released back in the day.

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

????

Space Rocks isn't simply using Atari 2600 hardware?

Or is it using something more?

 

 

 

Since the 5200 is really and Atari 400 computer, and the 8-bit computers are powerful enough to emulate the Asteroids arcade roms.. It's just a matter of someone being motivated to do it.

 

It is important to keep in mind what was available at the time. Space Rocks didn't exist back then. Space Rocks is a game written on modern hardware which is using a modern processor. Big difference.

[tep392]

We just need this converted to the 5200.

http://members.aon.at/~nkehrer/ast800xl.html

 

[BassGuitari]

Asteroids on the 400/800 is fun enough but isn't what I'd call one the better implementations of the game. The dark green color used for P1's ship was a terrible choice, and your shots feel sort of sluggish and choppy. However, these things can be gotten used to, and the several different game modes and simultaneous multiplayer make it stand out. As a single-player game, it's OK+.

Asteroids somehow isn't a game I feel the 5200 really needs, though. The Atari 5200's got enough other great games that I never think, "I really wish I could play Asteroids right now." I guess I've just long since accepted that Asteroids never came out on the 5200, and I'm mainly interested in retro systems as they were rather than what people want them to be 35 years later. And I have Asteroids, or clones of it, on at least a dozen other systems.

[Keatah]

Asteroids somehow isn't a game I feel the 5200 really needs, though. The Atari 5200's got enough other great games that I never think, "I really wish I could play Asteroids right now." I guess I've just long since accepted that Asteroids never came out on the 5200, and I'm mainly interested in retro systems as they were rather than what people want them to be 35 years later. And I have Asteroids, or clones of it, on at least a dozen other systems.

 

Yeppurz.. If 5200 got asteroids back in the day I can almost promise you it'd have been the 400/800 version.

 

The way systems were years ago *IS* an important point. It's simply how they were, and how we remember them. It's like putting in an R-Pi or pico-ITX mobo into an Apple II and running MAME on it. There's no flavor there. Some combinations are so far "away" from the original it's no longer the original or even relates to the original.

 

I actually felt that way a little, just a little, with the Arcadia-Starpath Supercharger. And most definitely with computer add-ons where the console becomes a dumb terminal, a dumb raster generator, a videocard, a display device.

 

I'm still undecided about the DPC+ melody games. They're modern day material because they run on 70MHz ARM chips. And they're old-school VCS because they fit in the slot, and use the VCS TIA, RIOT, and 6507 circuits quite nicely I suppose.

 

The flavor and aura has to be considered and preserved.

[Keatah]

????

Space Rocks isn't simply using Atari 2600 hardware?

Or is it using something more?

 

Much more. Brief yourself on DPC+ and what's in a harmony/melody cartridge.

 

As a matter of fact, this is a timely article that should brief you on ways the VCS was extended and with what types of hardware. There was more expansion going on than most people realize, beginning with bankswitching.

http://atariage.com/forums/blog/148/entry-13507-extra-hardware/

https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=page_view&p=atariage_melody

 

It's an AtariAge specific thing, but seems to have worked pretty well over the years and feels like official hardware.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Keatah

[+sramirez2008]

 

The 5200 version of Asteroids was going to be a launch title, but it was never released, for controller reasons. When you look at it, the game doesn't even look much better than the 2600 version. If it had been released, people might've said this version was inferior.

2600 has Space Rocks

7800 has Asteroids Deluxe

Jaguar has Rebooteroids

Now, the only system that actually does need a proper Asteroids would be the 5200. One that actually looks and plays like the arcade. A 5200 Asteroids Arcade, with Asteroids Deluxe included, maybe.

 

 

Yes!! Asteroids is my favorite arcade game, so I'm always looking for another port or clone to play.

[kiwilove]

We just need this converted to the 5200.

http://members.aon.at/~nkehrer/ast800xl.html

 

 

Possibly Atomsmasher might be easier to convert to run on the 5200 than the above game? I don't know because I'm no programmer ...

 

It's not Asteroids - but in the asteroids vein kind of.

 

Harvey

[MIKE5200]

 

The 5200 version of Asteroids was going to be a launch title, but it was never released, for controller reasons. When you look at it, the game doesn't even look much better than the 2600 version. If it had been released, people might've said this version was inferior.

2600 has Space Rocks

7800 has Asteroids Deluxe

Jaguar has Rebooteroids

Now, the only system that actually does need a proper Asteroids would be the 5200. One that actually looks and plays like the arcade. A 5200 Asteroids Arcade, with Asteroids Deluxe included, maybe.

 

Someone made Asteroidve for the 5200 thought it was the best!

[tep392]

 

Possibly Atomsmasher might be easier to convert to run on the 5200 than the above game? I don't know because I'm no programmer ...

 

It's not Asteroids - but in the asteroids vein kind of.

 

Harvey

If there's a problem, it will be having enough RAM for the screen and variable data. It looks like it uses double buffering, so 12k just for the screen buffers.

[MIKE5200]

Theres hack version:)

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/74204-updated-hack-of-asteroids-ve-for-the-5200/

[Zonie]

We just need this converted to the 5200.

http://members.aon.at/~nkehrer/ast800xl.html

 

Talk about a killer app... Packaged with a proper controller...

[Keatah]

Pretty sure this needs 64K RAM.

[tep392]

Pretty sure this needs 64K RAM.

But how much of the 64k memory space is OS ROM and system font. Vars, screen buffer and any self modifying code would require RAM. I'm sure much of it could sit in the 5200's 32k ROM space. The arcade code might have to be reassembled to sit in a different part of the memory map. The arcade code is actually quite compact.

[Keatah]

In altirra I had to use xl/xe OS. Nothing else worked.

[tep392]

In altirra I had to use xl/xe OS. Nothing else worked.

Yes, it was written for a 64k machine, but I'm talking about the possibility of converting it to run on a 5200. It would need to be done so most of the code runs out of ROM.

[BIGHMW]

Hey, hello??? Does anyone not remember Meteorites from Electra Concepts???

 

I bought it brand new back in 1986 at Adray's in Van Nuys, CA, then sold it (and Bounty Bob Strikes Back, stupidly at that!!!) a few years back because I needed the $$$ and most recently re-acquired it from someone right here on AtariAge in the forum classifieds.

[Keatah]

I don't rememeber having Meteorites. But I remember seeing it at that exact same store in that exact same town around that time. I was out in Grenada Hills and would spend time in Reseda and the surrounding towns. Great times 2 b shur.

[BIGHMW]

Another Valley Dude who is an Atarian, great!!! WELCOME!!!

 

I was born in Panorama City in 1966, and raised in both Northridge and Sepulveda (now North Hills) until moving here to Port Townsend, WA in July 1987 (I was only 21 at the time). I took all of my 5200 gear (and all of my L.A. Kings gear too, we had season tickets at The Forum for 10 years and I still cheer on those now-2-time Stanley Cup Champions and have since 1975!!!) with me, and just before I left permanently for the Great Northwest, as we came back to do some final things, including shutting down operations of my father's construction business, I DID stop by Adray's again and bought 4 backup CX52 (5200 stock) controllers in case they ever malfunctioned, and of course this was well before the internet, and certainly well before Best Electronics came around with the gold-plated contacts which are a godsend

[FifthPlayer]

 

Yeppurz.. If 5200 got asteroids back in the day I can almost promise you it'd have been the 400/800 version

 

 

I don't think that's a given. Some arcade ports for the 400/800 were translated to the 5200 almost unchanged (Defender, Pac Man), but other ports were done specifically for the 5200 and are superior to the 400/800 port. Centipede and Dig Dug are two examples of games that have much better 5200 ports, published by Atari.

[ledzep]

Asteroids on the 400/800 is fun enough but isn't what I'd call one the better implementations of the game. The dark green color used for P1's ship was a terrible choice, and your shots feel sort of sluggish and choppy. However, these things can be gotten used to, and the several different game modes and simultaneous multiplayer make it stand out. As a single-player game, it's OK+.

 

Asteroids somehow isn't a game I feel the 5200 really needs, though. The Atari 5200's got enough other great games that I never think, "I really wish I could play Asteroids right now." I guess I've just long since accepted that Asteroids never came out on the 5200, and I'm mainly interested in retro systems as they were rather than what people want them to be 35 years later. And I have Asteroids, or clones of it, on at least a dozen other systems.

 

 

 

 

My feeling is that any Atari console should have, at the bare minimum, all the Atari games on it, specifically the arcade games. Further, it should have joysticks, paddles and trak-ball controllers (and a spinner!). That's "Atari" to me. No console ever really achieved that but I'm cool with homebrews after the fact filling in the holes. A major hole in the 5200 line-up is Asteroids, that is as important as Missile Command and Centipede to me (and Lunar Lander and Battlezone). I am so glad that Tempest came out for the 5200 after all these years. I would love for someone to come out with a homebrew Asteroids and a special buttons-only controller to go with it (like a 5200 Starplex controller with arcade-style buttons). Then other games that use that control scheme (Armor..Attack, Rip Off, Space Duel, Space Invaders) could use that controller as well.

[Omega-TI]

Did anything ever become of this?

[onemoretime]

As much as I enjoy my 5200, you would be hard pressed to convince me that the 2600 version needs improvement. It's a simple little game, that is fairly difficult to get good at.