etschuetz

Not only with what I stated, with the advancements that Atari were always wanting to make during its early heyday, a newer, more advanced system would have inevitably been released by 1988/89. With that, knowing how Atari liked using existing processors, they would have probably utilized a M68000 series processor to release a decent 16bit console that would have given Sega a run for their money in the 16bit era. The Jaguar would have been an obvious given as to how its development started around 1989, anyway. On top of that, the Lynx would have probably been a stronger competitor to the Game Boy because Atari would have had the faith of developers on their side by that time. As for marketing and such, with quality games, and displays using Kiosks, Atari would have easily been able to regain shelf space. Consumer demand usually dictates what distributors will carry. If Atari would have released the 7800 in 1984, Nintendo would not have been able to use their 2 year contractual agreement on new releases as Atari would have already ended up with most of them on their 3rd party roster. Nintendo would have been forced to compete naturally. Sega would have also been given a bigger chance, as well. The 8bit industry would have boomed with a three way competition for supremecy. With that, we would very well have seen a technological battle with faster, stronger, more capable systems on the market long before they did with the current market at that time. I don't blame the programmers and developers for the failure of the 7800. I blame the business sense of the Tramiel family. There is a reason why they were drummed out of the very company they started. The death of Atari in the early 90's is a prime example of it.

Sadly, I have Robot Tank in physical form, but only have my 7800 hooked up. I need a power cable and such for my 2600. However, thanks to emulation, I can play that game. I found it superior to Battlezone, personally. Loved that game as well.

Well that does indeed suck. Ah well, I suppose I will just stick to actually buying games down the road. That problem is the difficulty in finding them, and not finding them over priced like on eBay.

Okay, I know there are a couple emulators for the Jaguar out there, but none seem to work all to well. Any secrets, advice, etc? I have MESS 0.131 and ever rom I have ever tried just seems to NOT work. Frustrating. Now, granted, I have a small collection of a few Jag titles and a working cat. I do enjoy it. However, I wanna try out a few titles before I decide to go and invest in them for my collection. Argh, I need help.

Ah, emulation. I enjoy it way to much lol. Here is my list of Choices. Atari 2600 - Stella Atari 5200/8-bit - Kat5200 Atari 7800 - Prosystem Atari Lynx - Handy Vectrex - MESS Sega Master System, Genesis/32x/CD, Game Gear - Fusion NES - jNES, NESter and FCEU jNES I prefer most SNES - SNES9x or zSNESw Game Boy/Game Boy Advance - Visual Boy ColecoVision - MESS Intellivision - Bliss TurboGrafx-16 - PCE Playstation - ePSXe Outside of that, I don't really do emulation for the newer stuff. Mostly because I have all those machines hooked up. I love it when I can use an emulator that can do more than once system. MESS is good for that, but has some issues from time to time. I used to use it for Atari 7800, but thanks to reading a few posts, decided to stick with Prosystem. Fusion for Sega is great. emulates darn near everything with perfection. I can even play actual Sega CD games in the tray, just like ePSXe. ePSXe doesn't get used to much, simply because of my PS2, or the PSone I have. I don't download ISO's much, but if I did consider it, it would make a difference, but I own around 60 PS games. I haven't found much luck with Saturn emulation, nor do I care for N64 emulation due to finding a good control scheme without getting a specialized adapter (already have on to use PS2, XBox, and Gamecube controllers via USB). I also admit that there really aren't any other systems out there that I care to emulate as all of the older systems share similar games.

I passed over a few threads to throw in my input, so I may accidently repeat something someone already said. The Atari 7800 would have seen better sales and such if one thing would have actually happened...It would have been released when it was ready back in 1984, instead of 1986. That two years makes a huge difference. This time would have given developers a chance to get familiar with the hardware, and possibly even make it look like REAL competition to the NES. The hardware between the two are similar, but there are some differences that actually put the 7800 at an advantage. The other issue is that the Tramiel family didn't push the 7800. They crapped on the entire video game industry essentially. If Jack Tramiel's Atari would have danced with who brought them to the Prom, things would have definitely been different. In my opinion, and looking in retrospec to the Video Game industry, along side Atari, the Tramiel family have NO business sense. THey just didn't care. With strong advertisements, encouraging good games, and allowing programmers the time to learn the hardware and develop games, it would have made a HUGE difference. Who knows, we could still be playing Atari today if the Tramiels would have actually invested the time to rebuild the console gaming legacy of the Atari brand.

So, someone is wanting to lambaste Activision for "unoriginality"? Geesh, rather sad honestly. Yes, some games follow formulas established in previous releases, but who cares? We have seen this through out the age of the industry...heck, board games do this! Every industry does this. It is just something that happens. A winning formula is established, and others will follow in suit to cash in on it. What is the real difference here? Activision took winning formulas and expanded on them. They didn't just "redo it", but they did it better in most cases. There are so many crap games out on the Atari that immitated something, but just fell flat on their labels due to poor development, programming, and design. Also, I wouldn't compare Starmasters to Star Trek, but rather compare it to Star Raiders, amongst others others on the Atari 2600. One that predates Star Raiders on the 2600 escapes me at this moment, but it was vary basic and ugly. I am sure soemone will remember the title. Star Trek's game play mechanics and set up are different in comparison to both Star Raiders and Starmasters.

Damn, I love eBay. Just got in my win for Atari 5200 versions of Ballblazer, and Rescue on Fractalus. Played in emulation already, and LOVED Rescue on Fractalus. It came to around 27 bux after shipping. Perhaps a bit expensive? But I have been trying to get RoF for a LONG while now.

Kids, and a possible parent, in those videos are proud to display their ID 10 Tango cards every where they go. If only they know what the Id10t stood for...

I just found this thread and wanted to throw my interest into the mix. Lynxman, when you get this bad boy working, I will be getting one as well. I love my Lynx. It was a wonderful little machine. Having the chance to play the hard to find games will be great. Also, this will hopefully create some interest in the homebrew scene. Good luck on the project! Hehe, a little wishful thinking, but maybe you can go the route of creating a cart like this for the Other atari systems?

If this were to actually take place, I could see it feasible. The system of "choice" should be a Game Boy Advance. Not only would it work on the GBA, and the GBA SP, but perhaps even the Game Boy Micro...on top of the Nintendo DS (Not the DSi to be released sometime this year). With the Atari 2600 on a Chip out there (Atari Flashback 2), it is plausible to take that and incorporate it into an adapter. You would need to implement the cartridge port (instructions on the net...google it), and then create some form of interface between the PCB and the GBA input. To be perfectly honest, however, I would suggest creating some kind of emulated adapter. Something to allow the use of SD/MicroSD cards to house ROMs. WOuld probably be cheaper.

I had a lot of fun putting it together and look forward to what I can do in the next issue. I didn't do an article of my own for this issue as I wanted to just focus on everyone else's and get everything just right. Next month, I am going to take a bit more time and experiment with "Tables" in the html code to help with the images and articles. I am sure it will help make it cleaner looking and such. I have to admit, I made a bit of a boo boo with the Idiocy article and credited the wrong author. That should be fixed soon, if not already. All in all, I am really glad to be a part of it. I hope to do the ezine, and the readers, proud.

I did a YouTube video about this little machine I got at the Dollar General today. A quick and fun little review of the Zone Wireless Game system. Enjoy! Now, if you Google Zone Wireless Gaming, you will find some articles. Personally, I find these articles rather markety and more towards misleading and false. The system isn't very "interactive" as it promises, but it is a bit fun. The games are not challenging. If you don't try and compare it to a Wii, you may accidentally have some fun with it though. There are rumors abound that you can connect more games to this system, but there is no input slots for cartridges, usb, or memory card slots. I want to wager that the device uses a "Genesis-on-a-chip" as its main system. The graphics look rather first generation Genesis, but then again, maybe more towards the lines of TG-16...is there a TG-16 on a chip out there? The machine was manufactured in China, so that should tell ya something too. I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually a NES on a Chip, and just advertised as 16bit. The graphics look about like late generation NES games, but then again, I am not sure.

Hey folks, well, since last month, I talked to the guys at RTM, and since Scott Jacobi decided he wanted to turn over the reigns of EiC at RTM, I took over. I am very pleased to be a part of this ezine as it is one of the best out there. Really, it is. I have enjoyed reading it since I first found out about it thanks to this site. And then getting a couple articles published with them, it was a joy. Now to see myself putting the product together for the readers really makes it fun for me. I just sent off the finished issue and I can't wait to see my first issue up and ready for the public. Now, I won't spoil anything, but I could NOT change the format. At least not in any way significant. I felt to nostalgic right now to want to change anything. If there are any changes in the issues to come, it will be minor cosmetic changes that won't effect the overall look and feel we have all come to love in RTM. As this is not my first website to work on, it is not strange grounds to be treading on. However, I love feedback. So when you read issue #56, please email me and give me some honest feedback. Thanks everyone.

What do I own? Hmmm, well here is a quick list of what I currently own... Sony PSX (Older Model Playstation, but later version without the I/O port and A/V jacks) Sony PSone Sony Playstation 2 (2 older versions w/ Firewire port, and one Slim) Nintendo Super NES (first release design) Nintendo N64 (one is the original black casing, and the other is a clear green casing) Nintendo Gamecube (original purple color) Nintendo Game Boy (Clear "Brick" version) Nintendo Game Boy Color (clear purple) Nintendo Game Boy Advance (clear purple casing and one black casing) Nintendo DS Lite (Limited Edition Zelda ver.) Sega Genesis v.2 Sega Genesis Plug n Play TV Controller Sega Dreamcast Sega Game Gear Atari VCS CX2600 - Sunnvale CA. edition (Original "heavy" w/ faux wood grain front and 6 switches on top) Atari Flashback 2 Atari 5200 (4 port original) Atari 7800 (release ver. 3 without the expansion ports) Atari Jaguar Atari Lynx II NEC TurboGrafx-16 Non-working Turbo Express As for those systems, here is a list of machines that I have owned in the past, but no longer own: Pong (with removable controllers) Various Atari VCS/2600 Models Atari 2600 Jr. Rev. A Atari VCS - CX2600A (Wood Grain Finish, 4 Switches on top) Atari 2600 CX2600A (No wood grain finish, 4 switches on top) [*]NES [*]Nintendo Virtual Boy (Ugh!) [*]Sega Genesis v. 1 [*]Sega 32x Add-on [*]Sega Saturn [*]Sega Nomad [*]Tiger Electronics Game.Com v.1 I also have a slew of stuff in emulation. NES SNES Nintendo Game Boy Nintendo Game Boy Advance Atari 2600 Atari 5200 Atari 7800 Atari Lynx Sega MasterSystem Sega Genesis Sega 32x Sega CD Sega Game Gear ColecoVision Vectrex Intellivision

Personally, I enjoy the Kat5200 emulator. The current version is being debugged, but the last version works with Vista. I highly recommend it.

None, but that is about the same amount of fun I had without the cheats.

This is one of the times I wish I was a rich SOB. I would love to get behind a project like this to help it along. All I can offer is hope and luck.

: : Oh, joy of joys of joys! How much do you intend to sell it for? Is it an issue of getting the support? What about the same route the Flashback 2 went? See if the distributors would be interested in this? Have you consider making just a few "special edition limited release" versions and selling them on ebay? Also, I would like to know, will it support standard 2600 roms?

Nevermind folks, after trying and trying, and then taking a few moments to relax. I got it to work. I even finished this ridiculous game. To get an idea of how long it took, with cheats, look at the first post, and this post. the difference in posting time should give you a clue. I will have a review of this game on my review blog at http://osgreview.blogspot.com here shortly.

Ok, I have been spending the better part of 15 minutes trying to get the 1,1,9,3 code to work. Assuming that when the cheat says "Title Screen", I am guessing where the little ship "flies by" and the title of the game pops up. What makes this such a $#!t to get to work is that there is no audio cue to whether or not the code was accepted. Ok, I know it requires you to put in 1193 on Controller 1, and Controller 2 handles the "cheat options". Has anyone else gotten this to work?

The SD support would really top off the machine to support adding additional games not on the machine, if there were issues with getting the licensing rights for third party games. With MP3 support, I don't know if that would really be all that "great". Granted, you could play your favorite games with your own "soundtrack", but since the flashback would be built around 5200/400 hardware, I don't think it would turn out very well. Also, how would the OS be handled? Would it be emulated, like the first flashback, or perhaps something like the 2600 on a Chip? With the 5200, I don't know if it is feasible to pack all of that machine into a single chip. Is it feasible?

Thanks for the input from everyone. Always nice to see this information pup up. Anywho, In regards to a statement about someone snatching up Atari, never happening. The current iteration of Atari is doing very well. They have a large line of popular titles that are selling very very well. However, I would like to see someone get rights to using the Name/Logo for Atari and try their hands at creating a good system, not being a retro style machine. Will it ever happen? Not unless one of us comes up with a few 100 million dollars and do it.

Went and read the Atari 7800 programming wiki. That really answers a lot of questions for me. Essentially, the two machines share a lot of similarities, minus the fact that Sound on the 7800 is inferior from several technical and practical aspects. They way the Atari 7800 was setup may have been technically a good idea on paper, and before we got the spectacular titles that NES was giving us, the 7800 fell short delivering the pixel pushing power it would have needed to really stay in the race. One major thing that would have given the 7800 a much needed push to be more aggressive would be if the engineers would have redesigned the memory mapping techniques the 7800 implemented. If they would have done so, we would have probably seen better conversions, for one. We may have also seen more competent games that would have been able to better compete with the NES. Sound wise, nothing could be done there. However, I really think that Atari should have went with a slightly larger case design to allow for the implementation of the Pokey chip directly on the board, if not actually taken the time to create a completely new sound processor. At the time the 7800 was designed, and if it were to come out at that time, it would have been successful as hell. However, by 1988, they would have needed to update the hardware anyways, but at least would have still been in the game.

Ok, technically speaking, I have heard that the NES is more powerful than the 7800, and vice versa. Which is it? By looking at the games that both machines shared, the NES had anywhere from just slightly better, to amazingly better versions. If Atari had better programmers working on the machine at the time, would it be a different story? Would the 7800 actually made a turn around for Atari? Both the Atari 7800 and Famicom machines were made roughly the same time. So, the issue of when they were made really isn't an issue. Now, I know the history on the 7800 and the NES for the most part. I am just curious as to which is actually a more powerful system in terms of specs and capabilities. I know that the NES is the ultimately more successful platform, but we have seen time and time again when inferior systems out do the more compitent and powerful machines thanks to software. And of course, when a company like NES gets away with practically Monopolizing the market with contracts and such, what do you expect? Examples: 2600 vs Intellivision (However, I think Intellivision was overrated) NES and SMS Game Boy vs Lynx /Game Gear/TurboExpress Genesis and SNES