Gunstar

NBA Jam on the Jag is the difinitive version of the game on home consoles, it's closer to the actual arcade version than any other, although most version are at least decent. I've tried the 32x, PSX and saturn versions, and they are all pretty good, but not as close to the arcade version as the Jag's. Also, comparing Slam&Jam '95 on the 3DO to NBA JAM on the Jag, or any system is definately like trying to compare apples and oranges; one is an arcade port of a famous side-scrolling B-ball game, and the other is a good attempt at a 3D-sprite based B-ball game, both are very cool, but you can't really say one is better or worse since they two different styles of video games and one (NBA JAM) is meant to be a fun arcade style game, while the other (SLAM&JAM) was attempting to be more realistic...

That's awesome! thanks for the link! BUT, I still need to find the original APACview/paint Colorview/paint programs....would probably need them to view the pictures you colorized with that program anyway...also, I remembered another one called GIFview, which used several different Atari gfx modes to show .gif pics...

The benchmark for games that take advantage of all available memory, yet still works on a 48k system is Datasoft's 'Alternate Reality' games, minimum of 48k and on disk drive is required, but upto 4 disk drives and AT LEAST 128k could be utilized, IIRC a friend of mine had a 320k upgraded 130XE and it put all that maemory to good use. The most I've had an opportunity to use though is 128k on my XE. Still, it's too bad more games didn't use this format. Mercenary: Escape from Targ and Spiderman were a couple other games that you could play on 48k systems, but if you had 64k-128k systems, the game could take advantage of the extra memory with a higher resolution of graphics in Mercenary, and added animation that wasn't available without 128k in Spiderman (the Questprobe series, IIRC the Incredibel hulk and other Questprobe games did this too). In the late 80's and early 90's a lot more games started using 64k+ and ignoring the aging 48k- machines...

I used to have a couple of really cool graphics viewers/paint programs for the 8-bit that were written, IIRC, by Bob Puff. One was called APACview (Any Point Any color) which allowed pictures in .gif and a few other formats from ST,AMIGA and MAC&PC machines. The other one was called Colorview, which used a special interlacing technique and page flipping between 3 screens (R,G,B) to get 4,096 colors on screen! Why is this relevent here? Well, because there are plenty of conversion programs for the PC that will convert Jpeg to .GIF or many other formats compatible with these viewers, so you can check out these pictures in full color with resolutions as good as what I saw in those screenshots for the 8-bit jpeg viewer. So, you can download jpeg pictures, convert them to .GIF, transfer them to the 8-bit with SIO2PC or something, and then using conversion programs that went with these viewers check the jpegs out in 256 or 4,096 colors! I have been looking for these viewers/paint programs and utilities to do this for quite a while now though (the disks I had with them have long since been lost), so if anyone knows where to get them, please let me know!

Yes, the Jaguar could EASILY do A.M.O.K! I have that game (saturn), and the voxels in it are much lower resolution than PhaseZero's voxels on the Jag, and the horison clipping is much, much closer. The fact is that the Jag could probably do a better job with higher-res graphics and a more distant horizon. The sprites in both games work well and look about as good as far as resolution goes..., just get your hands on PhaseZero and compare it to A.M.O.K and you will see what I mean. Both are great games by the way, unfortunately PZ isn't finished, or it would have been better than A.M.O.K.

I just switched out my NTSC ANTIC chip for the PAL ANTIC and all I had to do to my composite monitor was adjust the horizontal hold to get it to stop flipping. Wouldn't this also work with a PAL 8-bit? Or is the fact that I still have a NTSC GTIA chip make a difference? I wouldn't think so though...I'm pretty sure if you just connect it with composite or chroma/lumina(S-video) video input all you'll have to do is adjust the horizontal hold on your TV/monitor...

No, no problems like that at all, it's working fine now. As I said. It was the screw in the corner that holds the heatsink itself to the mother board, the other spots where the heatsink is attached to the motherboard are attached with plastic clips or "rivets." I do know electronics, I wouldn't be so stupid as to disconnect the voltage regulator from the heatsink!

Well, it's an Atari 8-bit, so of course I love it! Just continuing an 18 year love affair with 8-bits. I really like the size, look and lay-out of the computer. I love having the cartridge port on the left side and how the cartridges go all the way inside so nothing is sticking out the top or back, the design is as good, if different, as the 800 in this respect. I really like the placement of the joystick ports too and the fact that they are at an angle which makes controllers slightly easier to plug and unplug. The power switch on the sice is another plus. I love the feel of the keyboard, although I haven't decided yet if I think it's really any better or worse than the 800 and 800XL keyboards; definately better than the XE and ST keyboards. Love the layout of the function keys and the option, select, start, help and reset, I like how the reset key is seperated from the rest, but I like the fact that they are all at the top of the keyboard like the XE instead of on the side like the 800XL. I love how the function keys move the cursor around in basic, so I don't have to hold the control key and use the keyboard arrow keys to move around, this is much more convenient than all the other 8-bit models. Now for the bad; the color sucks compared to the 800 and XE, but no worse than the 800XL. It only has 64k, and there are several extended memory programs that I like to use, or programs that can use more than 64k, even if only 64k is required. But both of these problems can be remedied with modifications. It's missing the PBI/ECI port the 800XL/130XE have, but I never took advantage of these anyway, so it no loss to me. I could do the mod for it, but I don't think I need to anymore since I use the SIO2PC/APE setup and have all the features through it that the PBI/ECI can give me, and without the high cost of adding black boxes or MIO boards and hardrives that way. Once I upgrade the memory to be 130XE compatible and fix the color, this machine will be my full time machine and my XE will hit the closet with my 800 and 800XL (at least till I have room to set them ALL up... ) Over all I give it a 90%. Funny thing though, I was reading an old Antic archive review of "first impressions" of the 1200XL when it was released, and they praised the video output over the 800...I just don't see it, the 800's video output is much cleaner in my opinion...strange...maybe the reviewer only ever had the 800/1200 hooked up via RF? That's even lousier though...

Well, I figured out the problem, and my 1200XL is working fine. It was a screw that was shorting everything out. It was one located in the upper right corner, mounted to the heat sink. I'm not sure if this screw is there originally, or if it was stuck in by someone at some point, but it was the culprit. I figure this screw must have originally had a plastic washer on it or something like that to keep it from shorting everything out or something. It may have been there and fallen off when I took it apart and I didn't notice, or, more probably, since the computer wasn't working for me to start with, someone else took the computer apart at some point and lost this assumed washer, and the thing never worked for them again, so it turned up at the thrift store that Kapone found it at. In any case, I figured my problem had to be a screw shorting everything out since the computer worked fine out of the case, and the only difference was that screws were holding it together; obviously it couldn't be the plastic case causing the problem, so it had to be a screw, so I just started pulling them one by one and testing the computer until it worked, luckily it was only the second screw I tried.

yep. Me too. when I first got my Jag years ago, a very good and trust-worthy friend of mine asked to borrow it overnight and I let him. He forgot the power supply however, and decided to try his NIntendo one with it. it burned the Jag out of course...nasty bit of bad luck, cost him $250! Although, after he bought me a new one, he decided to contact Atari and see if it could be fixed or replaced as it was under warranty, of course he didn't tell Atari he used a nintendo PS on it, just that it quit working and is smoked, etc. They replaced it for him for free, he of course was very happy and became a Jag owner/fan the hard way... :wink:

I recieved the 1200Xl I traded with kapone for yesterday, and it didn't seem to be working right initially. the LED would come on, but that was it. I took it apart and checked it out and everything seems ok. I did have to clean tarnish off of the power supply port, and then it seemed to work fine! (when it was apart) So I put it back together and hooked it up...and nothing again, just the LED lighting up! I took it apart again, cleaned the power port again, and tested it again with it out of the case...it works fine! So, I put it all back together in the case again and hooked it back up...back to square one! nothing works but the LED light coming on... Anyone have any ideas what could possibly be causing this? I assume it some kind of a short somewhere, but I can't figure out what&where it could possibly be! VERY STRANGE. I've never seen any problem like this before...I suppose I could just leave it out of the case and use it...but that kinda sucks.

You definately want to get Soul Star and Battlecorps for the Sega cd, those are Core design games, and Core is well known for great games and these are no exception, they take great advantage of the cd. For the 32X, I recommend StarWars Arcade, Shadow Squadron, Star Trek:Starfleet Acadamy, Kalobri and T-mek. there are a lot more good games for both, but I don't have them all yet, so I recommend those...32X has a decent version of Doom, but it you have it for any other system short of the SNES version, don't bother, the others are better.

Did it work? if so, swing over my way and drop off a spidey-web full of cash! I'll praise your name and ScatoLogic's til the day I die...

My copy of SoulStar My lightguns... My soon-to-be arcade stick Stone I gotta get me one of your light guns Stone. What games can you play with it? Jason None. I think he has some cheesy little bjl demo he can use it with...but I'm still not sure why he went through with making the gun just for that...guess he just liked doing it, for the doing it, itself!

My bad - I thought it was not an officially released game. Guess I'll have to take your advice and do some "scouring". Now we know what happened with that piece-o-crap! This is the one I was really hoping for some insight on. From what I've seen, this seems to be the lastest available proto? You're probably thinking of PHASEZERO which is just an unfinished game, that is still pretty cool. ZERO5 is a complete game, and a very good one too, if a bit hard, with killer graphics that make the Jaguar shine!

Do you guys have to keep quoting GaryH917? i put him on my ignore list days ago, but I'm still seeing his comments 'cause you guys are quoting!

BizDude, do you have the 3DO and Jaguar both hooked up with the same quality video feed? I'm asking because I have my 3DO hooked up through S-video and it looks quite sharp to me...my Jag as well. Obviously I can't comment on the Jaguar SoccerKid's graphic clarity, but the 3DO one seems sharp to me. The main difference is that the 3DO hardware takes a 320x224 image and extrapolates/interpolates (whatever, forget the term) it; basically it takes that image and turns it into a 640x448 interlaced image, the resolution isn't really any higher because of this, it just sort of doubles the verticle and horizontal pixels so you don't have the black scan lines in the image like on the Jaguar or other systems that aren't interlaced. I actually prefer it to the non-interlaced screens on larger TV's as it doesn't have the black scan lines that become so visible on large screens (unless you have progressive scan).

Well, maybe I'll eat my words about the music as I get along in the game. The truth is that I've been so busy with other things since I got Protector, that I've only played it like three times and made it to about level 10. I just don't care for the title music and that which I've heard so far in the first 10 levels. It's not that it's terrible or anything, well, I do think the title song is...but after having such killer tunes to listen to on D2K, it's just pale in comparison. The game itself is very cool, although I still stand by my opinion that D2K is better, but then, I'm good at it, and can make it past about 2 million points (not sure what level that is, but way up there). Both are good games to have...

thnaks. I thought I'd heard/read somewhere that some cd-roms had been attached through the parallel port...guess I'm mistaken. But, I'm having some trouble just getting this thing to work with my laptop right now anyway...it already had the drivers in it, so the previous owner obviously used a backpack for it too, but I can't get the PC to recognize it...I've done a trouble shooting list that's at MicorSolutions' homepage, with no success so far, but I have downloaded some updated drivers to try out...

Now this is just a guess, but it could be that the makers of Jag Protector weren't even aware in the slightest of the 8-bit version from Synapse, or it could be a tribute too for all I know, but I don't believe Synapse even exists anymore at all, so who's around to claim copyright infringement? Or, maybe one or more of the programmers actually programmed the original too...I'd have to look at the credits of both games to know, but I think my first guess is the most likely; unaware of existance, and Synapse not around to complain-all is shear coincidence.

They are different types of games, so just because one might be considered "great" and you don't care for it, doesn't mean you may not like another that is only considered "good." You may consider what Kevincal refers to as a "good" game as a great one yourself. After all, when it comes down to gameplay, it's a matter of opinion what is good or not for the most part.

Hey, Jaysmith, can you sell me one of those for a buck or two? my case is showing some wear and tear. I could use a new one for my collection...

Just thought people should know, too save time, as I found out from Maxim..... myself when I inquired about trading/buying the "HD" seperately; this is not a harddrive or even a high-density floppy drive, it is a SF354 single-density, doublesided drive by Atari that holds 360k. Basically, this is the original 520st setup Atari released. I have NO idea where he's getting this "HD" thing from...

No regional lock-out. All Jaguar&jaguar cd games will work, except, I have heard, the Readysoft titles like Braindead 13, Dragon's Lair and SpaceAce, but this isn't a non-loading issue, it's a TV standard issue; the 50hz PAL/60hz NTSC problem. But all other cartridge and cd games will work fine. I'm not even sure why the ReadySoft titles won't, and if that's true with all three or just one or two of them, it seems to me that some European's have Braindead 13 and it works for them, so maybe just the other two? Congratulations on your purchase, you will have many fine hours of enjoyment ahead of you. You'll also want to get one of these (if they are available:currently not available*) Protector:SE, B&C bypass cartridge, Matthias' Ethernet/flash* cartridge and Battlesphere Gold*. These all have the Jagcd-bypass option to bypass the cd encryption and allow new hombrew/small developer game releases and demos to be played on the Jaguar cd. They also generally have other cool stuff included too.

While that's very interesting Sikor, I'm not looking for a HD/cdrom solution for the ST right now. I'm just wondering if I can use what I have as a solution. I will keep that in mind though, should I not be able to get my backpack to work with my ST.