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Space Invaders. Finally got a light sixer in 1980, because of Space Invaders. Prior to that, the Atari was "too expensive". But when Space Invaders was released I threw a trantrum and HAD to have an Atari. Parents finally broke down and got me one for my birthday. Grandparents bought me Space Invaders.

I used to have all 3 swordquest t-shirts. Never wore them because first, when I got them in my mid-teens, I thought they looked "cheesy". Also, I don't remember if you could choose a size when ordering the game from atariclub, but even as a thin teen, they would have been small to wear. So I tossed them in my closet, where they sat for many many years. And they stayed there. Finally, a few years ago when I finally went back and packed up my remaining crap in my old closet at my parents house, I found the shirts. As an Atari guy, part of me wanted to keep them, but realistically, what was I going to do with them? So I sold them to somebody on here....don't even remember who. Oh well, at least I'm happy that somebody has them in their collection instead of them ending up in a dump somewhere!

i'd definitely be interested in buying an electronic release that can be flashed to our own cart (i've got 2 extra, currently empty 8meg atarimax carts laying here).

Adventure. First time I played it I was like "whoa, this is so cool and different". It started my love of adventure/RPG games through the years. You'd think I would have gotten tired of it, but 35 years later I still play it a few times a year.

Can the digital edition (atr) be written to an Atarimax 8meg cart....will it work that way?

thanks for the tip phaeron...crossbow is now working perfectly.

Not sure if this is the best place to post, and sorry if it's a stupid question but..... Does crossbow (rom cart image) work in Altirra? Seems it should since it looks like it has pen/lightgun support, but I'm stumped how to enable it and get it to work. Any help appreciated. Otherwise, Altirra is fantastic. This is the first time I've tried to get a lightgun program to work, and I'm stuck. ps - also, just wondering, has anybody ever hacked crossbow to work with a joystick so you can play it on a real atari on a modern flatscreen???

I haven't gotten this cart myself, but I just thought that I'd mention that I had a similar problem with the Stella Stocking cart I bought about 3 years ago. On my heavy 6 it works fine. On both of my light 6's, the game gets stuck on the initial title screen with the "have you played atari today" jingle....no way to advance beyond it.

I'd like to see an actual release date list myself....it's surprising that no official list has ever appeared (that I've seen at least). I can't believe no Atari documents listing actual ship dates has been unearthed through the years, or even something from a Toys-R-Us (or similar) toy department's inventory logs. Any lists that I have seen posted definitely have some questionable entries. For instance...Adventure usually gets listed as being released in 1979. I think the programmer, Warren Robinett, said in an interview that it was done being programmed by early 1979, but didn't ship until late 1979. And yet.....I didn't get my first Atari until spring of 1980. Adventure was listed in one of the catalogs I got with one of my first game purchases. When I wanted to get it, my parents were told by whatever local store that it wasn't out yet, but was being released soon. They put their name on a list to be called when the store got the game in. The receipt for that purchase is from either August or September of 1980 (I still have it somewhere). So it would seem that in the case of Adventure, it wasn't released until a year after most lists show it as being released. And check me if I'm wrong, but I also *think* that the instruction manual (or box) for Adventure shows a ©1980 on it.

No contest - Adventure. For some reason I never get tired of it. As a runner-up, I'll probably say Superman. I guess I just like roaming from room to room, picking up objects and bringing them somewhere else. :-)

Got one on ebay a couple years ago for about $40, with 2 working original style joysticks, paddles (one worked perfectly, the other has some jitter), and about 20 random carts. Console was in very good condition (the orange line around the switches wasn't even scratched). I didn't know it was a heavy when I bid on it....from the poor photo with the auction, you couldn't really tell because the carts & controllers were in a pile along the front of it. I only cared about getting an extra 6-switcher & the 4-5 carts in the bundle that i didn't already have.....and was really happy and surprised when it arrived and turned out to be a heavy (and with a pretty low serial # to boot).

After pestering my parents for over a year, I finally got my sixer in July of 1980, along with the Space Invaders cartridge. Still have it and play it occasionally. My Atari and my Lionel trains....the two toys that I have never outgrown.

wow. i was just playing this on a 2600 sixer with harmony cart. i have no idea how you got this to sound so good, but the intro music sounds just like the arcade....i had no idea this was even possible on the 2600! and in only 4k? freakin' awesome. this is the version that atari SHOULD have made back in '82 (or whenever)!

I still have all of my original computers....a 400, then an 800xl, then an 800xl with rambo upgrade. They all still work. Ialso have a friends 800 that he gave me back circa 1995 or so. I still have the boxes/manuals for my first 800xl; and the box for the 400 may still be in my parents attic. I got four 1050 drives through the 80s, 2 upgraded with USDoublers in them....still have them and they still work. I think I still have the boxes/manuals for 2 of them. But that's probably about it - about 10 years ago when I moved, I threw away modems, cassette drives, PR Connection, a printer and some other assorted odds and ends. Every few years I'll set up an 800xl and a couple disk drives and play some games on a rainy winter weekend, but I figured I'd never use the cassettes, printer, modems, etc. Last time I set up one of my real Atari's and played the games, I was kind of amazed that these floppies/drives still work fine after 25-30 years!

I began with a Coleco Telstar in 1976 I think. Then got an RCA Studio II in 1979 (I really wanted an Atari, but my parents said it was too expensive, so that's what I got). Then I finally got my Atari 2600 in 1980. That kept me quite happy for the next couple of years. In 1982 I started getting into computers, and got an Atari 400. After another year I stopped getting new 2600 games because those on the 8-bit computers were better versions (Pacman, Missile Command, Centipede, etc). By the late 80s I was mostly into adventure/rpg type games (like Alternate Reality). My Atari 8-bit obsession stretched til around '91, and by then it was a 256k 800xl. Then I moved to the Mac world with a Mac IIsi and ended up getting into games like SimCity, Myst, Civilization, etc. Around that same '91 time period I picked up a Sega Game Gear so I could play games like Sonic and other platformers of the day. By 2000 I had moved to PC. Got married in 2004 and my wife insisted on getting a Wii when it first came out, Christmastime 2006 I think. Had fun with the Rock Band games, Mario Kart, etc. But mostly I've been doing the PC gaming thing for the past dozen years (Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Far Cry, etc.....and of course MAME). And things kind of came full circle 3 years ago when one day I dug out my old Atari 2600, bought a Harmony cart and so now I also occasionally spend time playing the same console I got for my birthday more than 30 years ago.

"But in the late 90s I read a cheat that disabled some part of the collision detection, so that the aliens (flies/bees) could no longer harm my Arachnus vehicle." Anybody happen to know what that cheat is???

always had mixed feelings about this game - on the one hand, i kind of liked the graphic format, and loved the eerie music. on the other hand, i never really understood what i was supposed to do - other than fire at bugs....which were really hard to hit, plus your "ship" moved really slowly and awkwardly. i just tried the new release, and it definitely runs smoother. but can anyone really explain what the point of the game is? (is there an "end" to it; a way to win?). and does anyone have any hints/tips (or cheats?!) for playing? because this is one game where i just could never get anywhere.

Back in the day, i went through many of the original Atari joysticks. Those damn white plastic inserts always cracked! After a while, they sold "repair kits" of the plastic inserts and I went through several of those as well. A few years back, I dug out my 2600 (and 800xl), and got back into playing with my Atari's again. Had a few working joysticks, and a handful of broken ones that I'd hung onto. Maybe 2 years ago, I came across a Flashback 2 and picked that up for the hell of it. I really liked the repro joysticks...if anything they had a better feel than the originals. I opened one up and also like the redesign because it looked more durable. So the FB2 stick became the one I use. While playing this past weekend, "CRACK"....and the stick came off in my hand...it broke off in the plastic "screw on" part. Damn!!! And so I am wondering....what do you all feel was the most heavy-duty, durable joystick? Obviously I know other companies made Atari compatible sticks, but I never had any of those. For once and for all, I'd love to just get a joystick that can last for MANY years of play. Has anyone ever made a joystick that has a SOLID stick part, which won't crack after some use???

ABSOLUTELY! That is something I would definitely be buying. I just saw a portable Genesis system in Walmart or someplace recently. And I do believe I saw an Intellivision portable a few years back. I would love to have a 2600 portable, but haven't ever seen one of those yet...

I actually do think that Atari's Galaxian LOOKS good enough, and plays okay, but the sound is horrendous. It'd be great if someone could just do a hack, replacing the sound effects. And yeah, Deluxe Invaders is definitely an improvement over Atari's version - thanks for the tip about that one.

I'm looking for a list of arcade ports for the 8-bits that weren't released commercially back in the day. I've stumbled upon a few over the past few years, like Pacman Arcade, Centipede Arcade, Space Harrier, Sinistar, the Asteroids Arcade Emulator, Beef Drop (Burger Time), Mario Bros 2007, Tempest Xtreem. What others are there? No need to mention the 5200 conversions, because I've gotten most/all of those...looking mostly for homebrews/hacks that people have made over the past many years that I may have missed. And on a more specific note - did anyone ever make a decent version of Space Invaders? Galaxian? Galaga? Thanks for any help.

just wondering, since i haven't been able to find any new info myself.....have both of these projects (phoenix & venture) been abandoned, or can anyone point me to new info about either?

Haven't been here over the summer, and was thrilled to see this thread! Mr Price, I'd just like to echo the sentiments of others here and say how much I've enjoyed playing Alternate Reality through the years. Back in 1985 (I think) I placed an order for The City with a mail-order company after reading an article in Antic about the upcoming game. When it finally arrived I was in awe of the graphics and music. Truly it was a game ahead of its time. 25 years or so later, my original character still wanders the city and dungeon once or twice a year via emulators. A couple of years ago I dug out my old 800xl and 1050 drives to see if I could still play it the "real" way, and sure enough those old disks booted right up. (Although after reading some of the posts here about current ebay prices, maybe I should think about parting with them now!!) One thing I'd like to ask about if you have a moment. You've said how you had wanted to release the different areas of the game seperately, and that you envisioned newer releases being able to patch older parts, as well as being able to move your character back and forth between the different parts. I know that back when I was playing the city and waiting for the dungeon to be released, I knew there were another 5 or 6 more parts to the game that were supposed to be coming out in the future. And I recall wondering at the time how that was ever going to happen, since it took 2-3 years after the city for the dungeon to come out....how could they keep releasing more parts to the same game for the next 10-15 years, given that the current Atari's, Commodore's, etc with their 5.25" disks were already starting to show their age. Just wondered if maybe you could comment on this aspect of the overall game plan. How long did you originally think the span of time would be from release of first to last game? What were the plans for being able to move a character forward as the 8-bit machines got phased out and people moved to newer computer systems? Because sure, you could somehow tranfer and import a character forward to, lets say, the "newly released AR : Wilderness for Macintosh"...but you'd still never be able to move the character back again to the older game parts unless you also ported & re-released all of the old games on the newer systems. (and for anyone reading this post, lets keep in mind that way back then, there was no publicly available internet; most people didn't have modems, email, etc; and different computer systems used different proprietary file systems....so transporting a character disk from one system to another would have been a challenge) As much as I loved and was addicted to the game, I always kind of figured there was no way I'd ever get to finish it. But I'm glad to see you here in the forums Mr Price, and again say thanks for all the endless hours of enjoyment I got from the city and dungeon!

excellent - much thanks! (although at first look, they did miss "journey escape"....which yeah, i do think it came out on the 2600 first and then as an arcade game, but still)

Very cool....never heard of that before either. Anyone else know anything more about this - like who exactly Penny Ormston is and is there any further development of this project going on? (also - if anyone has been playing this for a while - does anyone have a map drawn out for it? or a cheat to get the mapstone or location spell??)