What's the rarest 7800 game you own?

[What's the rarest 7800 game you own?]

Mine is Fatal Run.

[Horrible game by a solid developer...]

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.

[7800 HSC Season 7 Game 11 (Pole Position II)]

30800

[5200 HSC Season 7 Round 17 Popeye]

55000. Surprised myself.

 

 

[hy did Atari release the the XEGS at a time when the 7800 was out?]

I have noticed the price of XEGS' are way outta wack on The BAY. Man, they want an arm and a leg for them. Are they getting rare? I searched around the net world and could not find any for sale through normal channels.

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.

[Salvo]

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!

[5200 HSC Season 7 Round 18 poll]

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

[5200 HSC Season 7 Round 17 Popeye]

22230

This one is picky about joystick calibration.

 

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.

[600XL Garbled Display After RAM Upgrade]

All 600xl's are socketed and HongKong 800xl's are to. Pick one up off ebay for parts, cheap.

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.

[600XL Garbled Display After RAM Upgrade]

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.

[A better mario bros for atari 2600]

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.

[Best 2600 arcade translation?]

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

[Controllers. Good, bad, ugly?]

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.

[When did you get your first Atari 2600?]

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.

[Midnight Mutants - Color Me Impressed]

I've always wanted to try this one, but I can't ever seem to find it for a decent price.

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.

[7800basic beta, the release thread]

 

The point is, for those that chose not to implement POKEY and stick with TIA sound, for whatever reason, don't shy away from 7800 game development.

 

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.

 

 

Yep. Have to finish 2 Atari 2600 projects before I can dive in. Then it's all 7800bas, Sega Genesis and Jaguar in assembly. Totally understand why there's more lurkers than definite projects

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!

[7800basic beta, the release thread]

Will it be able to do speech synthesis, or is there a different module for the 7800 for that? Or would you just use an AtariVox?

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.

[New to A8bit, need suggestions]

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.

[For Sale or Trade - 2 VIC-20s]

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.

[I just got an Atari 5200!]

 

I agree, it's bonkers to use it for Pole Position but I wanted to mention it since the code is present in the game to support it.

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.

[first steps in 7800basic]

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.

[first steps in 7800basic]

So I got a question, is it possible to load 1 picture and display (plot) it severaltimes using a different pallet and move it seperatly ?

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.

[I just got an Atari 5200!]

Is the Trakball worth getting? What is the SD?

 

Someone also pointed out I am one of the very few people to even own a 5200, and probably the youngest at age 19. Interesting...

The trakball is totally worth getting! Missile Command and Centipede...heck, even Galaxian and Super Breakout play infinitely better for me with that trakball. It's one of the better controllers that have been made for any system. And it's as big as my 7800!

 

The Ultimate SD cartridge is a cart that has a slot for SD cards in it. You just load your SD card with 5200 ROMs and plug it in the cart, then stick the cart in your 5200. The entire library is available to you on one cart with a nice menu. I have one and it's the only cart I use. It's a little spendy, but as I say, it gives you the entire 5200 library in one shot. You can have a look at it over here.

 

Congratulations on your pick-up! She's a great machine. Overlooked by many, but greatly loved by those of us who have been taken over by her giant, star destroyer-like bulk. Hope you enjoy it!

[Fatal Run]

Yeah, this is a game I kind of enjoy, too. A number of the later titles that the Atari group in...Illinois, wasn't it?...made are really pretty decent. Kinda shows that, in the hands of enterprising coders, the 7800 had a lot more flexibility than people think from the early arcade titles.

 

Is it worth the price though? seems to run a bit on the higher end on Ebay

 

Yup. It's worth the price, with a special caveat. The key thing is finding it when the price is right. I held out for a while and picked up a boxed copy for $25, I think, a few months ago. Seems like Stevaside got a similar deal. It looks to be one of those games that, if you hold off a little, you can find at a decent price.

[2 worthy video game podcasts]

Classic Console Gamernews Episode 15 - Computers on Cassette Sitcom Special has just been released.

 

WARNING: Don't listen to this one with headphones/earbuds on. Just don't. You have been warned. This one gets strange.

 

http://ccg.podomatic.com/

I should have heeded your warning. I'm extremely sensitive to shrill, high-pitch noise. So, of course, on go the headphones and up went the volume. I can take it, right? How rough can it be?

 

Ugh.... After a time, I realized I was curled up in a ball on the floor of my dining room weeping like my youngest. She walked up to me, shook her head, said something like, "What a wuss," and wandered off. She's only 2. I gave up then.

 

I'm kidding, mostly. It was a good episode that I did listen through. Something I can let my oldest hear for historical purposes. "This is how we used to do it before SD cards and...well, lots of other stuff."