MAC-42

32,480. The fight goes on! Well thank you! Looks like I walked into a real brawl in this round, huh? No kidding! Mind you, I think this is probably the most I can squeeze out of this track. (Never have been good at it.) Good hunting, everyone!

Here is the video of Video Easel from Mr. Wizard. The Quad-drawing mode is just an option, though a neat one. They don't use the simpler, single-line drawing mode that's also available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_DQ2VWOtq4 (Note also the All-Mighty Vectrex off to the side. All hail the Vectrex!)

I just picked up Video Easel for my daughter (8 years old) after she saw it used on a 1200XL in an episode of Mr. Wizard's World. (We take our retro seriously around here. ) Even I like messing around with it from time to time. Simple, but effective and does almost everything you're looking for. To get different colors, you have to draw over lines you've already drawn. That's the only downside compared to what you're looking for. Otherwise, it does everything you want and a touch more.

Mine is Fatal Run.

I wasn't even aware that Sky Skipper had been ported to the 2600 until reading this thread. I enjoy the arcade version in MAME a great deal. The 2600 version...gee, thanks, guys, for pointing out its existence to me. I didn't care for it. Bless 'em for trying, I guess, it it doesn't work for me.

30800

55000. Surprised myself.

Mark Bussler over at Classic Game Room has done reviews of the Atari XE computers (in the form of the XEGS) and a number of 8-bit games recently. That's the only thing that I can think of to account for the sudden burst of prices. I bought my XEGS last year--XEGM, keyboard and PSU only, no games or light gun--for $40 shipped on eBay. I'm glad I did. Of course, now the joke is that my wife is required to allow me to buy any classic system or computer I like, as they turn to gold after I touch them. (Well, I think it's funny. She doesn't. ) By the way, thanks to all you UK folks for your posts. It has been enlightening hearing your views on the computing situation over there back in the '80s. Very informative.

Is it me, or does this game make Robotron seem as a placid afternoon with my lady at my side as we stroll along a gently babbling brook? This is the first chance I've had to look in on this seriously, RevEng, and I find it a brutal monstrosity that must be defeated. Probably by those with more skill than I have, but I'll try. Well done!

Great choices. Except...God save me from Atlantis.

22230 Yeah, when I got a 5200 last year and showed this off to a friend...he was unimpressed that you couldn't actually go up or down. Sigh. Good thing I have a less finicky stick laying around now.

That's what ended up happening. All is well now, and I have spare chips as far as the eye can see now. My last post was just a note for anyone down the line who encounters something similar.

Just posting an update (and, hopefully, a possible resolution) to this post. I obtained a 600XL with known-to-be-working chips this weekend. The first thing I did was to remove the ANTIC from the original (the upgraded, problematic one) and replace it with the ANTIC from the new one. It's given me a good excuse to play games and code all afternoon as I wait to see if things go wrong. I'm about 4.5 hours into running this new configuration without problems. Usually, I would see things going wrong by now. With a bit of luck, I might have a solution to the problem. If that's not it, well, we'll move on to the GTIA and try again.

I love Mario Bros. I played 2600 Mario Bros. all the time when I was a kid in the late '80s. It wasn't great, but I really liked Mario Bros., so I put up with it. Then, I got a hold of 7800 Mario Bros. and never looked back. (I still play it and the arcade version in MAME all the time.) If Mario Bros. on the 2600 had a fraction of the look and sound and feel of this demonstrator that you've made available, there's a good chance I'd still be playing it today, too. This is really beautiful looking. Sounds terrific. It's very impressive. (As is your Pac-Man, by the way!) I really can't wait to see how this one comes out.

I'm very fond of Juno First. Space Rocks is great, too.

I try to use the classic stick when possible. Right now, the Genesis gamepad is the only decent option I have to play 7800 games (with an adaptor to get 2-button play) and I also use one in our family room. (I put a 2600 out there for the kids and we just swipe my daughter's Genesis pads.) In my room, though, the CX-40 is the king of joysticks. I hated the discomfort caused by fighting with a CX-40 that had worn-down dome contacts within, so I opened it up, removed the old contacts and soldered down some momentary contact switches to the board. That and a little action with the dremel made the world of difference. The control is positively silky now with no resistance. It's clicky now, but that's hardly something I complain about given how well this stick plays on my consoles and 8-bits.

My parents picked my first 2600 up for my 5th birthday in 1983. It was a 4-switch woody. Weren't they shipping Vaders by then? I know for sure it was a woody because a friend of mine had a Vader, which looked evil and...Vaderish...with its all-black shell. Anyway, got the 2600, Combat and Pac-Man. And I played Pac-Man and liked it. Later came Q-bert, Super Breakout, Frogger and many others. It was a good old machine. It was, sadly, ultimately taken out in a flood in '86, I believe. My folks got me a 7800 that Christmas.

This is another one of the later 7800 games that I picked up on eBay at a fair price. Mine was just the loose cart, but it's the game and I can play it on my 7800 and I can get the manual PDF from Digital Press. Good enough for me. I find it to be one of those games that, if you're patient, you can find a good deal on eBay. Every so often, a seller just doesn't know what they're "worth," I guess. But take SoulBlazer's advice first; I think you'll be impressed.

That's a good point, Trebor. So far, I've got some (pretty lovely) sprites moving around the screen doing things and some TIA sounds to accompany them. That I can even do that at all with a 7800 is a minor miracle to me--and it's a big deal that RevEng has lowered the bar to let others in. (I'm dying to really get stuck into assembly, but there's that time problem again....) So, no, TIA isn't to be knocked or mocked. It has served us well for decades now and will continue to be of use. Ahh, now, I was wondering when you'd put your hand to the 7800. Looking forward to your work here; doubtless it will be very impressive!

Well, Bob was able to get TIA to say the opening line in his Astro Blaster port for the 7800. (That was really awesome.) Anyway, my guess is that, in competent hands, you could probably get Hokey to do speech. I imagine that it will replicate POKEY sound output pretty much sound-for-sound. With the inclusion of POKEY sound in 7800basic and this new chip, by the way, I think we've permanently had our game upped; expect POKEY sound to become the way of the future on 7800, with TIA sound as an adjunct for sound effects. Couple this with CPUWiz's new cart board and the XM as options and we game designers have plenty of riches at our disposal. As far as apparent lack of activity, I actually have a couple of games that I'm nudging along when I have a moment. I have three kids and other responsibilities, so it's catch as catch can as far as finding time for them goes. There have been a number of projects, though, that people have been showing off. I think we're actually off to a fair start.

I love, love, love Mr. Do! on the A8. That's one that will require a disk or SIO2PC or some other such device to play, but it really is great. And Tinman is correct about the Genesis controllers. I steal my daughter's controllers for use on my Ataris all the time. Should be no problem for you at all on your 800XL.

I have two Commodore VIC-20s kicking around here that I don't have use for anymore. Both work well. The only small issue is that I have only one power supply and A/V cable to share between them. Both VICs are of the 2-pin power cord variety. I'd be willing to sell these, but could also trade these out if need be. Ideally (and probably optimistically), I'd love a 600XL. Doesn't need a power supply or any bells and whistles, it just needs to work. My 600XL is in a bit of a state, and it would be nice to have a replacement. Other than that, I'd be open to hearing what you'd like to offer. We can work out the details of shipping etc. I'm roughly in central Florida.

Well, for completion's sake, I guess we should mention that you can play Defender with the trakball, too. I mean, if you like that sort of thing. I actually thought it was a neat idea...until I tried it out and realized how it's even more frenetic than with the joystick.

Here's a simple code for plotting a handful of sprites. I think I've got this right; I'm trying to get little ones ready for preschool. (My wife is taking the elder child, so I'm free for about a minute.) If this is in error, can someone hit me with a ruler and fix my mistake please? plotsprite herodown1 0 xpos1 ypos1 heroframe plotsprite herodown1 0 xpos2 ypos2 heroframe plotsprite herodown1 0 xpos3 ypos3 heroframe plotsprite herodown1 0 xpos4 ypos4 heroframe You can even change a sprite's color by selecting a user-defined palette.

I'm about to drop my daughter off at school, but I recommend compiling and running the multisprite sample. All of those sprites come from one image file. If someone else doesn't get here before I get back, I'll drop a sample plotsprite code for multiple sprites from one image.