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Hi. I hooked up my 2600 again and had many hours of Berzerk fun, but there's some things that kind of... elude me. Some thing I need some serious explanation on. I noticed that every robot in the maze has their own animation, their own frame, own behavior. No flicker, no glitching out, no nothing. Even when two of the robots were side by side, one could be walking left and one could be turning it's head while shooting. I don't quite get why or how, since I heard the 2600 can only display two player sprites at a time. What confuses me even more is when Evil Otto comes on the map, both the player and Otto flicker. They're both even the same colour. I mean, I don't get it. Why are the robots (who sometimes go up to like 10 on screen at once) so smooth and can maintain their individuality flawlessly, but as soon as Evil Otto comes on the screen both him and the player spaz out? I even tried looking through the disassembled ASM source code for Berzerk (source: http://www.qotile.net/minidig/ ) but I'm not at a level of experience where I can read through all that and know what it all means. So, could someone please explain the theory of how sprites work on the 2600, and how it's possible to achieve the effect the programmers achieved with the robots being flawlessly individual? And one thing I did notice in the code was that the robots were mapped out graphically with "." and "x"es. How is it possible to have a multi-coloured sprite? Last, but not least, but could I effectively make a 16x16 sprite by using multiple frames of a sprite and setting them side by side? I would think it's possible if two robots with separate frames can be on the same scanline... Also, what restricts the 2600 from displaying more than two shots (a player and a robot's) at a time?

Did you mean 800XL or 800? Oh wow some of the games I REALLY want are more expensive than I thought! Shamus I found one for $50 but it ends in 8 hours. I won't have the money for days. Haha! Some of the other titles I want are making me raise an eyebrow too. Maybe that SIO2SD is a good investment...

Oh! So there IS a way to play them on the XL! A loop I have to jump through, but definitely nice to know. Alright! At this point it looks like it's going to be the XL if I can get one cheap enough. There's no way to expand the amount of joysticks from 2 to 4 though?

Alright. If the extended RAM beyond 64k for a 400 or 800 restricts what I can run, I'll go with the XL. ...unless the XL can't play Shamus or Gorf. Going by this list: http://my.execpc.com/~krieg/links/8bit.carts It says they only run on the 400/800. How can I tell if a game is for the XL/XE line and not for anything before that? I want to see if there's any games I wanted that fit that category. If that's the case, I'm gonna have to save up for both a 400 and a 800XL. If I end up having to get both, I'll go for the 400 first solely because I really want to play Shamus that badly. Haha! But yes, obtaining both is definitely an option, but one will have to come first. Thanks for the heads up though about the RAM issue beyond 64kb. I might get a SIO2SD later on if I decide to get serious into the system.

Aight cool. Thanks guys! I've been thinking of this for a while. Like I said I started with wanting a 800, then I eventually found myself loving the 400. But then I looked into the 800XL and, while I don't care for the way it looks, it's compatibility is really appealing. Arg! Decisions decisions! At this point I'll take any of those three depending on which is the cheapest! (In the case of a 400, depending on how pimped out with extra RAM it is. For me, this option is the highest priority. I really love the 400's small and toyish/consolish design and I plan on sitting whatever Atari I get in front of my TV beside my other consoles) I'll start looking next month when I'll finally have the funds. Turns out I'm busy on the exact day that computer museum is having it's garage sale (this one) so I can't make it. If anyone goes, could you pick me up a system if I PayPal'd money? Aside from people going, anyone got any spare systems for sale? eBay is starting to get ridiculous in prices. And thanks JCat. I'll check those out. The first Atari 8-Bit games I want to get are: Shamus Alley Cat Mail Order Monsters Missile Command Pacman Donkey Kong Joust Moon Patrol I'm already making a list! Hehe! I'm so excited to get into this system! EDIT: Actually, speaking of pimping out with RAM, I can't seem to find any places to buy extra RAM for these things. Is RAM for 8-bit Atari systems rare?

Oh sweet! This is only an hour away from me! Nice! I might be able to get my machine here! Thanks for the heads up!

Cool! Thanks! In that link I also found this: http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/faq.html Answered a ton of questions! (Specifically the NTSC/PAL deal, and I found that only the 400 and 800 have four controller ports) As far as 4 player games go, a Google search brought me to another thread on this forum: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/155696-4-player-simultaneous-games/ I hear you can upgrade an old 800 beyond 48kb correct? The only thing I don't like about the 800 is the lack of BASIC built in. But other than that, what makes the 800XL better than the 800? Right now I'm leaning towards the 800 for sure. Thanks again for the link! EDIT: Though I'm having trouble on finding information on exclusive games to the later 8-bit systems. Will games made for say, the XE Game Console, work on older models given the correct RAM?

I want to buy an Atari 8-Bit computer. I love the aesthetics of the original Atari 800. But is it the best choice? The monitor port... obviously not VGA. Any way to connect it to a composite video signal? It bugs me that it's max RAM is 48KB when some games support 64KB (some in which I want to play). Is this just a max set by Atari and is it possible to go even higher? How are NTSC systems at handling PAL versions of games? What's the deal with the XE and XL lines? Are there exclusives for these not available on the older lines? (Like the XE Game system) I want to avoid anything higher than Atari 800 because I wanna play Shamus (which from what I read, only works on the 400 and 800) Do all computers support 4 controller ports/floppy drives/etc? Lastly, any good 4 player games? I just don't want to buy something and not be happy in the end. Thanks!

I would love to see a book on this. I feel intimidated by having to scour around links and find bits and pieces. I find a book lays everything out in a logical order best suited to learning everything from the ground up. I'd buy one. Definitely.

@Thomas: Does it use just either or do the B/W and Difficulty have two different uses/maps? @Brian: Sounds awful... I'll go with the six switch then. Thanks!

Hello. I figured since I'm interested in the Atari 2600, and shamefully I don't own one anymore (lost a bunch in a move), I'd ask this question which I feel will be very important as far as my play time goes. Which games use the Difficulty switch for things other than difficulty? You know, that actually affects things in game play. (For instance, I believe Secret Quest uses a switch to bring up an inventory) Do any games for that matter? The reason I'm asking is because I know someone selling a Vader model of the 2600, but I don't want to reach all the way in the back for the switch to do something that is crucial to the game that is mission critical. Would I be better off waiting for a six switch? Thank!

Hey everyone. Thanks a lot for the info! Really useful stuff. Every post here taught me something that'll help when programming for this system. One thing I'd like to know. Can you do Variable Arrays on the 2600? For a starter project I was thinking of porting a simple bullet dodging game called Rain Hell that I made a few years back (the graphics consist of only dots) but the mass number of bullets/rain droplettes on the screen would kill the system's RAM. If I could array it from cartridge RAM I think I could do it. What do you think? You can try the game for download at rainhell.com (if you don't feel safe, which some might by being handed a program by a complete stranger, the site has screenshots) but now the question is, can the CPU calculate every shot on time or would there be some massive down scaling? I'm used to higher end systems so I don't really realize just what I'm getting myself into just yet. I need input please.

Hello. I'm very interested in learning how to develop for the Atari 2600, but I figure I'd start off with learning more about the system's limitations and workarounds before setting myself on this system for sure. I hear the typical Atari 2600 game cartridge can hold 4K of data, and the system has 128 Bytes of RAM. Though I also see there are other setups involving bank switching for more ROM in the cartridge as well as the cart carrying it's own RAM. The documentation I found: http://kevtris.org/files/sizes.txt Now what I'm wondering is, is the Atari VCS limited to those setups, or is that only a list of what has been done already on the system? Could I, say, put in thirty-two 4K chips for 128K and add in even more RAM than 256 Bytes? I'd really like to work on something in the future, something really big and awesome. Yea, it's fun to play with system limitations and try to squeeze the most out of 4K (and I have a lot of respect for people who do. Seriously, props!) but I'd like to see a really huge project come alive on the Atari, just to make people go "Wow... that's running on the VCS?" with more than just programming tricks to create neat visual effects. Thanks in advance for any information or correction on my misinformation!

A little late I suppose but I absolutely have to comment on this. Fantastic job! This is how Pac-Man SHOULD have been for the Atari 2600. After comparing the two, I concluded that there is no fair comparison. Yours is fun, and the old Atari one isn't. When you finish this, I'd definitely buy a copy if you release it on cartridge! Maybe even two! Keep up the excellent work!