XEGS cart packaging query

[Joey Kay]

Hmmm...

 

I don't own any of the blue XEGS carts from Atari, but how could a person know if it would work on their computer. All the box says it that it will also play on XL and XE computers... what about memory requirements?

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

[ApolloBoy]

I don't think they say what the memory requirements are, but I'm pretty sure most of them require 32K or 64K of memory.

[DracIsBack]

Hmmm...

 

I don't own any of the blue XEGS carts from Atari, but how could a person know if it would work on their computer.  All the box says it that it will also play on XL and XE computers... what about memory requirements?

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

 

The box usually has memory requirements as well. Really, this one only done for 600XL owners.

[Joey Kay]

I was checking out boxes at Atarimania, and none of the ones I looked at (Desert Falcon, Crime Busters, GATO, Necromancer, and one or two others) had this... was it on the side panel?

 

Perhaps they were PAL boxes... was the 600XL released there?

 

And I guess it also bears the question... what about the users of the 400/800 with expanded memory. Why did Atari abandon them - surely many of those games would be compatible.

 

Cheers!

 

Joey

[+davidcalgary29]

A good basic rule is that all Atari cartridge releases will work on all of Atari's 8-bit computer systems. The exceptions to this rule are these:

 

1. Most post-1985 releases require more than 16K of memory. You will therefore probably not be able to play any blue label XEGS cart on an unexpanded 600XL or Atari 400. Only a few titles require 64K of memory, and these were all XEGS releases.

 

2. I do not know of any OS compatibility problems with any of Atari's cart releases, but you may find that one or two games will be incompatible with either the 400/800, 1200XL, XL, or XE OS.

 

3. Some compatibility problems have been reported when the XEGS has been used without the plug-in keyboard even in games where keyboard input is not required.