SabertoothRetro

This is now in the store. Heck of an upgrade if you ask me.

#27485 Heroes of Loot

I received my replacement SE carts late yesterday and opened them this morning. The carts are in perfect condition and I appreciate the patches and pins included. I did not get the nice note that others received. It's a small oversight but I actually really wanted that for the box. It's kinda part of the XP story. I gotta say, the quality of the new cart labels is vastly superior to the originals. If anything, this unfortunate situation should improve the QA for all subsequent XP runs. Overall, I'm happy with how Atari resolved the issue of the SE carts. Also, since I have the LEs, I can actually use these patches and pins!

Currently, you can't. It's only on the cart. The ROM on the VCS store is improved compared to older versions but is not the final version used on the XP cart.

Woo-hoo!

It's still available in the PlayStore. I just grabbed it. The works great with touch controls.

From the Atari Games Discord: "Owners of the original get a 50% discount, and a game which in our opinion better holds the mantle of a justified *remake*."

No, it's not a re-release. The original Missile Command Recharged was a mobile free-to-play game that was then ported to VCS, Switch and Steam. It does not have the depth of the later Recharged titles. This is a complete rebuild and gives Missile Command the full "Recharged" treatment: Arcade Mode, Missions Mode, Co-Op, Leaderboards, Achievements, etc. It's a new, full game for consoles only.

PSA: We're playing Donut Dodo for the October Squad Challenge at ClubVCS on the Atari I/O forums. Developer Pixel Games has offered to send the winner of the Challenge a signed and sealed copy of Sir Lovelot on the Switch. There is already some crossover between this AA subforum and ClubVCS but I wanted to drop this here for those of you who might be interested.

The earlier games (Centipede. Black Widow, Asteroids) had VCS exclusive challenges. That seemed to have ended with Breakout. As others have said, it really comes down to Classic Controller support.

Ever wonder what it's like to voice a videogame character? Here's a great text interview conducted by RickR with Patrick Hickey Jr., who voiced DJ Git Bizy in BPM Boy about his experience working on the game. A fun peek behind the curtain! https://forums.atari.io/topic/7411-an-interview-with-bpm-boy-voice-talent/

Here's gameplay only footage of the AA cart, XP LE cart, VCS standalone and VCS Vault version. As I said above, the AA cart, XP LE cart and VCS standalone versions appear to all use the final build of the game. The Vault 2 looks like the 9/2/1983 version of the ROM. The cartridge footage was captured using my LHE modded 7800. This accounts for the slightly lower audio in one channel. The LE cart wouldn't fit my UAV modded 7800 (daily driver). IMHO, the VCS standalone is easiest to play due to the controller. The XP LE version gets the nod for looking awesome.

#26503 Space Grunts.

So I compared the four different versions of Saboteur head-to-head and cross-referenced against the information on AtariProtos.com. It looks like the version on the Atari VCS Vault Vol 2 is the 9/2/1983 version of the ROM. The version in the Atari VCS store appears to be the final build and is the same as the XP LE cart and the cart in the AA store.

I have the AA cart, the LE cart and the VCS rom. Will do some capture tomorrow for comparison.

I tested my LEs in 8 consoles. No issues on 2 Jrs. It did not fit in one of my 7800s... but that's more of a 7800 issue than an XP issue. What's your specific issue?

Manual issues for Aquaventure LEs are being corrected too.

Another print error noted. This time on the LE boxes. Saboteur is credited to HSW, Dennis Debro and Curt Vendel.

Saboteur appears to be a different ROM than is in the Vault. The third screen is different from the Vault version of the ROM. I'll take some game capture footage later this week to demonstrate. Yars' Return is different on the cart with the enhancements made by Dennis Debro. The VCS version should absolutely be updated.

Here's my best score (so far) for Yars: Recharged played for the Atari I/O ClubVCS HSC. 95,760 with a Modern Controller.

My LE copy of Yars' Return was tested on eight console variations. It did not fit one 7800 and did not work on a Retron 77. It worked on a different 7800, 4-switch Video Arcade, 4-switch Woody, Coleco Gemini and two Jr's. Some incompatibility with different 7800 models is expected so I give them a pass on that. I mean, I can't even play Activision, Imagic or certain red label carts on that particular unit so I'm not holding their feet to the fire. Also, incompatibility with the Retron 77 is disappointing but I don't expect these to work with third-party hardware.

Just a note that the XP version of Yars' Return and the ROM in the VCS store are different. The XP version has the following improvements that do not appear in the VCS ROM. Improved would be the Shield graphic. The Shield is now a solid graphic instead of being interlaced as before. Title screen Game selection names instead of game selection numbers. The Easter Egg was also changed. Various bug fixes

My LEs arrived last night. They were also very tightly wrapped. I removed the shrink wrap immediately to prevent warping. I was going to open them anyway but appreciate the frustration of those who intended to maintain a seal. I tested in the following: 7800 (x2), 2600 Jr. (x2), Coleco Gemini, 4-Switch Woody, 4-Switch Video Arcade, and Retron 77. They did not work in a Retron 77. They did not fit my daily driver 7800 but DID fit my spare. They were a little tight in my Video Arcade. All other consoles worked fine for all three titles. The LE Aquaventure manual has a print error but its a DIFFERENT print error than is in the SE carts. Here's a side-by-side courtesy of @fultonbot via Twitter.

Here's another Ltd. Edition unboxing.