Atari2008

There's nothing to think about, just get it. It's about the best home version of Wizard of Wor there is. Other very good games are Galaxian/Galactic Invasion, Bally Pin, Clowns / Brickyard, Pirate's Chase, Space Invaders and Space Fortress. These are all relatively easy to come across. Other great ones like Blast Droids, I.C.B.M. Attack, Ms. Candyman, Sneaky Snake, Muncher and Solar Conqueror are quite scarce and expensive when found. If you can ever acquire a multi-cart then by all means do so. Just ordered a copy. I'll consider it a little housewarming present for myself. I actually have Galaxian and Space Invaders which I love. The Space Invaders clone was my first Astrocade game and it blew me away. I haven't had a chance to play Space Fortress much but I'll give it a try since it's a title I hear come up often. I'll check out the others too since now I'm psyched and looking forward to increasing my Astrocade library.

I agree, I hadn't really played the Astrocade much but it was the last system hooked up at my place before the move and I got to mess around with it a bit and realized I really like it. I did get a decent offer for it but it would've been tragic had I sold it. Now I'm definitely looking forward to getting some new games for it. Thinking of getting The Incredible Wizard.

I decided I'm slowly going to take most of my collection with me minus the 5200. I'm going to work out an agreement with my mom to keep my systems at home for another month and when I come visit every week I'll just take one with me until I've moved them all in. That way I'll be able to slowly organize them as I move in and get settled. I'm glad you guys brought me to my senses I think I would've missed out on a lot of fun giving up on these classic consoles particularly the Astrocade, which I've been playing the past few days as I pondered my options.

Yeah, I second this... that was my thought as well... You guys seem to be winning, I'm leaning toward just taking most of the stuff with me and selling later on if I really don't use a system. The Astrocade is still relatively new and might grow on me so I don't want to sell it just yet. I'll probably get a new game or two for it to start using it again. The only one I am selling is the Atari 5200 since I never use it and it does take up A LOT of space. Good thing I turned to the right place with this question.

I'm really on the fence about the Astrocade, I've rarely played it but I feel it has so much potential that I just haven't tapped into. While I do love the Channel F and am keeping it, I do feel that when people come over the Astrocade might prove more popular so it could have more entertainment value. I also invested some money in it since I paid to have the shielding removed so it wouldn't overheat. Hmmm...I'm thinking...

Thank you everyone for your input. I agree since there is some redundancy in my collection - the 7800 can play 2600 games and the Channel F System 2 has a few advantages over the System 1 - I may actually end up keeping more than I originally planned. I can tuck the Atari 2600 and Channel F System 1 away somewhere to keep them preserved and play the 7800 and System 2. I will be selling the Atari 5200 as I haven't used it in almost a year and it's just too huge. The Astrocade I'm on the fence about so I'll think it over.

I'm moving and I'll have limited space in my new apartment, so I'm trying to make a judgment call as to which systems are going with me and which ones are staying. I've brought the Atari 2600 and the Channel F System 1 to my new place. I'm going to sell the Atari 5200 since it's big and bulky and I haven't touched it in a long time. May even sell the Atari 7800 since I rarely play 7800 games anyway. That leaves me with the Astrocade and Channel F System 2. I'm thinking of selling the Astrocade since even though it's an awesome and interesting little system I hardly ever play it, and figure it'll be better off in someone else's hands. I'm thinking of bringing the Channel F 2 since it is the latest system I've purchased and will be better for my roommate since the volume comes out the TV. I know it's pretty much up to my personal preference but as a collector I hate to part with things so I'm curious to hear people's thoughts as to what I should keep or sell.

I was thinking that it might be an issue of less shielding since the System 1 is much heavier and I know that the FCC was stricter in the early days. I guess I'm really lucky since my System 1 works flawlessly, but then again I bought it from Atari2600.com and they had the system serviced before selling it. I'm glad the System 2 works as well as it does (the only draw back is the screen interference) considering that I got it off eBay and it wasn't well taken care of since it was pretty dirty. Everything on it seems to work except buttons 3 and 4 can tend to get stuck but the controllers work perfectly.

I recently bought a Channel F System 2, and it's awesome, I like having detachable controllers and sound coming out the TV. The only drawback I noticed, compared to my System 1, is that the image on the TV screen doesn't seem to be as clear. As soon as I fire it up I notice vertical lines on the screen that seem to come and go, I'm assuming that it's interference, although it doesn't happen with the System 1 or any of my other consoles. I bought a new RCA cable hoping that'll be the solution, but no improvement. I also tried connecting it using a Coaxial (F-type) to Female RCA Adapter as opposed to the TV/Game Switchbox and no improvement either. I was thinking of trying it on a different TV to see if that'll help. Let me know your thoughts on what I could do, short of opening it up, since I wouldn't know what to do at that point.

Whats the label on the bottom look like? I just took a look and unfortunately no label on the bottom either. Here are some pics, hopefully someone out there can help identify which model I have.

With the 'cade it doesn't matter: off, on either way is fine when inserting a game. If it's already on, you just hit the reset button. And yes, like you read in the manual, it was designed this way. Awesome! Thank you for the info. I hadn't realized that the Astrocade is so rare since it didn't sell well but also due to the fact that many of the original units aren't working anymore. I'll be sure to take great care of mine! At some point I may post pics since the plastic cover doesn't have the label, so I'm curious if anyone could help me identify which model I have. I believe it's the one that was actually labeled Astrocade.

This might be kind of a dumb question but I was reading the manual of one of my Astrocade games and it mentioned turning on the system before inserting the cartridge. I have been treating the Astrocade like every other system and insterting the cartridge before turning the system on and then turning it off before removing the cartridge. Is the Astrocade like the Channel F in that you turn the system on before and then plug in and change cartridges? I know the Astrocade is a delicate system so I want to make sure I keep it happy. Thanks!

This is going to sound like a plug... Track down a copy of "Ken Uston's Guide To Buying And Beating The Home Video Games." It was first published in May, 1982, and covers just about every game available at the time for Atari VCS, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, Channel F, and Astrocade. (It doesn't mention Miniature Golf on the 2600, though, which was discontinued by then). The author (better known as a Blackjack master) gives detailed descriptions of the games, the controls, playing strategies, and even "screenshots" (aka illustrations of the game screen...which actually look more or less just like the actual game). Ken also compares the games to similar games on other systems of the time. He even goes over the consoles themselves, in no small detail. At the risk of infringing on any copyrights, here's the introduction to the section on the Channel F games(all 26 cartridges are discussed, by the way): "When one considers that the Channel F cartridges, for the most part, were produced a number of years ago, it is evident that the achievement level at the time was superb. Some of the Channel F cartridges are timeless; no matter what technological developments occur, they will continue to be of interest. In our rankings, I have of necessity evaluated the Channel F system relative to current competition, the only sensible approach. While some of these offerings fall by the wayside due to technical obsolescence, others are quite effective. Interest: Of the 32 Channel F games [ed: on cartridges with multiple games, like Videocart 1, Ken counts each game individually] almost one-half rate high in interest (see page 604), an impressive proportion. These include two shooting-type games, ALIEN INVASION and VIDEO WHIZBALL. PINBALL CHALLENGE is a fast-moving rendition of a BREAKOUT-type game. Many of the cartridges contain excellent educational games for children..." So not only was the Channel F still alive in 1982 -albeit on life-support- but the author's remarks about it were generally favorable, even in comparison to the Atari VCS and Intellivision, which were in full swing by then. I found that kind of illuminating, myself. Thank you for sharing that! That's pretty amazing. I know that the Channel F wasn't the most successful console around and has ended up with a so-so reputation so it's really interesting to read a review from the time and that it's generally positive. I'll definitely have to track down a copy since it sounds like an interesting read.

I concur. The Astrocade was far ahead of its time. I'm a recent owner thanks to a fellow AtariAge member. From the moment I plugged it in, I was in awe of the Astrocade. My first game was Astro Battle which is a very impressive Space Invaders clone with sharp graphics and colorful aliens. The controller was and still is one of the most unique for a classic console that I've used. It's very comfortable to use and it's nice that it's ambidextrous since being a lefty, I have had trouble with most classic controllers. The controller is also very versatile in that it functions as a joystick and paddle in one, and that it has an independent fire button unlike the Channel F. I also love the look of the system - very 70s, very retro. I also like how the storage area in the back instead of being used for controllers, like most systems that had storage, actually is used for the games. That's where I keep my games and it's handy to have them right by the system. The built-in calculator I thought was just a good conversation piece till I realized that it's integral to Bally Basic which is another reason why the Astrocade is so awesome. Can't beat a system that gives you the ability to make your own games. I do agree that the system has overheating issues which is its major flaw. I had been reading about it but naively thought that my unit would be spared. After 5 minutes of gameplay the screen would go haywire and one time the unit just shut off on me. So, I sent it in to Atari2600.com to have the RF shielding removed and now it works perfectly! I highly recommend removing the shielding - a procedure you can do yourself I'm just not handy with a soldering iron. I'm not sure about the laptop cooling pad. I tried that initially before getting the shielding removed, I was able to get more game play time out of it but ultimately it still heated up. Maybe removing the shielding and a laptop cooling pad is the way to go. Anyways it's an awesome system, and I'm looking forward to building my library.

I'm surprised that of the high powered talent that worked on the emulator and wrote games, none of them put a homebrew on a cart. I wonder the same thing but I'm assuming they probably figured that the audience for a Studio II homebrew would be very small. I might buy Space Invaders or something like that just to have a reasonably good game to play on my Studio II, but I wasn't necessarily thinking of a commercial venture, just something to prove that it could be done. The proposed design I saw for putting homebrew games on a cart says it's untested. I can see that. That's definitely one of the reasons why I bought Pac-Man for the Channel F. Having a new game which far exceeds anything originally available for the system was just too cool to pass up.

I'm surprised that of the high powered talent that worked on the emulator and wrote games, none of them put a homebrew on a cart. I wonder the same thing but I'm assuming they probably figured that the audience for a Studio II homebrew would be very small.

Maybe somebody could port Microvision games to the Studio II? I would throw down some money for that right now! Seriously, I'd pay a pretty good price for any homebrew Studio II game. If you scroll to the bottom of this page there are 3 homebrews that you can play on an emulator: http://studio2.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ Combat, Space Invaders and Hockey. This thread actually inspired me to download their emulator out of curiosity, and I played some of the built-in games for a few minutes. Definitely as bad as people have described. Bowling was the first game I tried which was okay but it looked ugly as hell. The doodling game was pretty boring especially without any color! The racing game was weird in that when you hit the other car nothing happened, LOL. I couldn't get the sound to work but maybe that's a good thing? I believe the only homebrew that they had a ROM for on that site was Space Invaders, I think the Combat and Hockey links don't work any more but they do have screenshots. Space Invaders was definitely more fun compared to the built-in games that I played. Not sure if the homebrews were ever released on cart. Maybe someone should port Pac-Man? LOL. I played Combat on that sites WinSTEM emulator, and it looked like a fairly faithful conversion. I've installed their Windows emulator but I can't get any sound out of it. Is there some compatibility issue with Vista? I know who would want to try Studio II games but I'm curious.

Decent by what standard? They were better than O1 games, at least. There's not much you can do on a 64x32 pixel display. (FWIW, the graphics chip could do 128x32, and you could see that mode when you "fried" it, with the stack blinking and everything, but there just wasn't enough memory for games to use it.) But the "educational" stuff was about on the level of the early "kid quiz" machines, in that all it did was have you go through a bunch of questions in a booklet, and enter the answer into the console. All it did was look for the right sequence and score you based on that. By decent I meant are there any games that are actually fun to play? Sure doesn't sound like it.

Maybe somebody could port Microvision games to the Studio II? I would throw down some money for that right now! Seriously, I'd pay a pretty good price for any homebrew Studio II game. If you scroll to the bottom of this page there are 3 homebrews that you can play on an emulator: http://studio2.classicgaming.gamespy.com/ Combat, Space Invaders and Hockey. This thread actually inspired me to download their emulator out of curiosity, and I played some of the built-in games for a few minutes. Definitely as bad as people have described. Bowling was the first game I tried which was okay but it looked ugly as hell. The doodling game was pretty boring especially without any color! The racing game was weird in that when you hit the other car nothing happened, LOL. I couldn't get the sound to work but maybe that's a good thing? I believe the only homebrew that they had a ROM for on that site was Space Invaders, I think the Combat and Hockey links don't work any more but they do have screenshots. Space Invaders was definitely more fun compared to the built-in games that I played. Not sure if the homebrews were ever released on cart. Maybe someone should port Pac-Man? LOL.

Yes! D-pads all the way. I'm so glad that my girlfriend lent me her Sega Genesis controllers so I can use them on my 2600. The 6-button controller that is also slimmer in size is very comfortable. I think joysticks are cool for the retro experience, but I've found that the D-pads are more ergonomic and comfortable especially for extended game play sessions.

I do have to wonder how much of that was from RCA advertising copy. Thank you for typing in the article as it was a bit of an eyesore to read. It's definitely an interesting snapshot in time from an obscure console. Funny, parts of it do sound like they came from RCA's advertising. I wonder if they were going for compact look with the built-in controllers and less wires hanging out. Dumb question but are any of the games even half-way decent? Screenshots suggest otherwise.

Really? Other than Vectrex? The Atari 5200 has 2 action buttons as well as the Colecovision. It's been a while since I've seen an Intellivision controller, it either has 2 or 4.

Hey at least the RCA Studio II appears to have been a hit somewhere.

Wow, I've never seen that flyer before. What year was that from? (81/82?) Judging from the title of it you probably already knew it was Christmas 1982. No, I didn't notice, actually, that's why I asked. I'm amazed that Zircon was still so relatively active with the platform as of ~December 1982. I never expected that. Thank you for sharing these pamphlets e5frog, it's always interesting to see the original advertising especially for the Channel F. I'm also surprised to see that Zircon was still so active with the system in December 1982...the Atari 5200 and the Colecovision were already on the market by then. Those Channel F Jet-Sticks must be very rare...

All of the systems that I would be hooking up are pre-NES consoles. I also had interference issues when I hooked up two systems to the same switchbox, since I had a switchbox with slots for 2 systems. And even when the other system was off there was a lot of interference.