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Giles N

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Posts posted by Giles N

  4. Posted · Edited by Giles N

    11 hours ago, ledzep said:

     

    Most of my favorite arcade games don't use digital joysticks (as in the 2600 type joystick), they use analog controls - Star Trek: S.O.S., Red Baron, Tempest, Lunar Lander, Warlords, Missile Command, Tailgunner, Centipede, Star Wars - or they use buttons - Space Duel, Armor..Attack, Space War, Rip Off, Star Castle.  So the 5200, especially with its trak-ball, is one of my favorite home systems (as is the Vectrex).  I never had that much of a problem with the arcade ports (on the 5200) that originally had digital joysticks, I used my thumb on the top of the stick and was pretty accurate with it.  Maybe not amazing at it, but good enough.

     

    I'm very surprised there was never a port of Marble Madness made for the 5200, seems like a natural fit.

    No wonder you enjoy the analog controller then.

     

    For me, its like, yeah I want that on the games mentioned above (typical

    3D or action-strategy), but not on games like Mr Dos Castle etc.

     

    I can get Pengo to work with it, and Moon Patrol, but I’d much rather seen a plethora of usual digital/arcade/joypad-things for these kinds of games.

     

    Fair ‘nough, Congo Bongo will probably never get high on my top-list, but with the analog controller its a nightmare to play.

  7. Posted

    2 hours ago, FujiSkunk said:

    If you have a decent emulator or the means to play 7800 ROMs on an actual 7800, you should check out PacManPlus's Pac-Man 320, Ms. Pac-Man 320 and Pac-Man Plus 320.

    I have actually three 7800 units.

     

    One PAL

     

    One NTSC modded for A\V (yellow and white video and audio-plug).

    This did however not work with 

    1) Tower Toppler; all the levels starts in succession, then jumps to the next, ad infinitum. no gameplay.

    2) Commando loose music but not sound-effects.

     

    So, I bought a standard 7800-unit which plugs into the antenna-in of a usual old-type (CRT) ntsc tv.

    (But the colours on Commando got so greenish... dunno why), but it plays Tower Toppler and Commando without bugging.

  9. Posted · Edited by Giles N

    32 minutes ago, KevinMos3 said:

    Yes, there are gameplay tactics that work similar to the arcade with this version, the 2600 version, and even the SMS version.  Moving around to stay out of the enemy's vertical path to make them move up/down toward you gives you a chance to attack before they do.  It's been discussed before, but finding the posts can be difficult, so it doesn't hurt to discuss it again.  🙂

     

    I prefer to play the 7800 version using mostly kicks and jumpkicks, with an occasional punch, headbutt, or elbow for variety.  I do use the reverse-jumpkick, but only when it's most advantageous in regard to my position on the screen.  If you only use the reverse-jumpkick, it can get kinda boring.

     

    I've wanted to make a youtube tutorial video of this and the 2600 versions for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it.  In the 7800 version, the enemies have 2 modes: they are either trying to get behind you, or they are pursuing you.  If they are trying to get behind, they don't attack.  If they are pursuing, they WILL hit you unless you strike them first.  You don't have to knock them down to break their pursuit.  You can dissuade them from pursuing by landing an attack, or just by moving around a bit.

     

    Also, to make your 7800 experience more like the arcade, you can play this rom.  ;-)

    Ok, thanks.

     

    Is it possible to have it produced on a cartridge which I can use directly on original hardware?

     

    And if so, is it limited to either PAL or NTSC?

     

    (I have both, could be interesting to know).

  10. Posted

    2 hours ago, jaybird3rd said:

    The blinking blocks contain the Snow-Bee eggs, which is something I didn't realize until I finally RTFM after years of playing a (pirated) copy of Pengo on the Atari 800.  Pengo is one of my favorites on the 5200 today.

    It may take some time.

     

    I think I just stumbled across by coming by accident to crush a blinking ice-block and saw the Snow-bee numbers on top of screen decreased.

  12. Posted

    21 hours ago, ledzep said:

     

    As far as I know, all of them could since the hardware is practically the same.  But I understand there are differences.

     

    My favoritism for the 5200 stems from its use of analog controllers, specifically the joystick.  It makes it easier to convert arcade games to it because the joysticks and the trak-ball are fantastic for that purpose.  Of course the fire buttons are a bit crap but nothing is perfect.  I also like that the controllers can support 2 fire buttons vs. 1 for the 9-pin controllers.  And I like the keypad, especially for a game like Star Raiders, that is a fingertip away vs. dealing with the Atari 800's keyboard for the same inputs.

    I think the analog controller makes for a very positively unique experience with Pole Position (which festured a highly sensitive wheel in the arcade), Star Wars, Resque on Fractalus and Missile Command.

     

    Unfortunately, it makes more typical arcade-gamers (often 2D games), more difficult, as you have to move the stick quite some space to have it go from say left to right.

    And in some games instant turning is needed.

     

    Atari should have produced two standard-sticks, to use with different games.

     

    Buts its cool for 3D or aiming and puzzle games.

  14. Posted · Edited by Giles N

    Again, I may be like 30+ years after other people here as to classic atari-console game-mastery, but found out:

     

    In Pengo, the standard way of taking down a Snow-bee is to push an ice-block on it.

     

    The second way is to push the wall of the gamefield when Snow-bees are close to it. It knocks them out for 4 seconds or so, so you can just walk over them to take them.

     

    The third way is to push 3 diamond-blocks in a vertical or horizontal line, which give a huge bonus and knocks out all Snow-bees on screen for 4-5 seconds. Walk over as many as possible to take them out.

     

    Now I discovered a fourth way.

    To complete a level (called bird), you must take out a set number of Snow-bees.

    There are limits as to how many are on screen at-once.

     

    And here is the trick: as soon as one Snow-bee is out, several ice-blocks begins to blink in the color of the Snow-bees on that level.

    If you are quick and destroys the flashig ice-block before the Snow-bee spawns, you actually get one more on the counter of how many are taken out.

     

    So you can take out Snow-bees (before they come out to chase you), by destroying the flashing ice-block when they are about to emerge from these.

     

    In two of images provided you’ll see a destroyed color-flashing ice-block and in the next image the Snow-bee-count decreased from 4 to 3.

     

    Good gaming!

    9E8D9E54-C4CE-479C-BDE5-339A57ADB1F3.jpeg

    1F387887-C549-450E-8F83-56F2CBB2586D.jpeg

    CB4C8068-AFE7-46CC-98E8-7E48C9091B48.jpeg

    1940D2B9-DD4B-4BE4-BBF6-AD6203A8F8F2.jpeg

    9A5B7397-956C-4C2E-97CA-DE9E7C218FCD.jpeg

    • Like 3

  15. Posted · Edited by Giles N

    On 8/25/2019 at 3:18 AM, bugcatcher88 said:

    You're right. Adventure II is the closest thing (AFAIK). There is an unfinished game called Meebzork that was suppose to release on the 5200 but never happened. Most of my 5200 games are very common arcade conversions like Pac-Man, Defender, Space Invader, Centipede, etc. 

    An NTSC version of Fatal Run 7800 is hard to come by unfortunately. I've been wanting a complete copy for a while now but either can't find it or can't afford it when I do find a copy.

    My first 7800 was PAL (as I live in Europe).

     

    I bought it to check out stuff I ‘missed out’ as a kid in the 8-bit era.

     

    Started with an SMS and some classics there.

     

    SMS was actually a success in Europe and South-America.

     

    Then I got a NES and some of the classics that Nintendo haven’t provided reiterations of on their modern consoles.

     

    Then I thought: what was before that?

     

    Was it any earlier system that had any good-looking and playable titles (which I connected with).

     

    So I bought a 5200 since it had Star Wars, Pengo, Pole Position and Robotron, all which I remember to played as quite young.

    And I think the average quality of 5200 games, despite a small catalogue, has a high quality.

     

    Then I wondered what Atari did to compete with NES and SMS, so I got an Atari 7800.

     

    Many cool games there.

     

    But some where easy to obtain ntsc and others easy to obtain PAL, so imported a ntsc.

     

    So I’ve got one selection of PAL games and one selection of NTSC games (with overlaps as I have sometimes just bought bundles or lots out there).

     

    Fatal Run and Motor Psycho was not difficult to get on PAL.

     

    Both are good.

    Motor Psycho is not as smooth as SMS Hang On, but festures a road with lots of ups and downs and variations of curves and obstacles, while Hang On has a flat landscape.

     

    Fatal Run runs smooth, works well.

    Different from Road Blaster, but overall works and plays well.

    Well-made road with curves and uphill and downhill, as a you close in to the town where you’ll deliver the anti-radiation meds, the horizon background changes from mountains or hills to a city.

     

    Not quite the 9,5/10 of say Ninja Golf, but a solid 8/10 for both.

  16. Posted

    4 hours ago, bugcatcher88 said:

    On Atari consoles, I really enjoy games with characters, a storyline, and that can actually be finished. Adventure, Secret Quest, and Fatal Run on the 2600 are some that I gravitate towards to because of that. Besides Adventure II, I don't know of any other 5200 games like that. 

    I don’t think you’ll find RPGs on the 5200 game list.

     

    There are games on it that can be finished, but the most common sort of game is arcade/pick-up-and-play.

     

    —

    Fatal Run is also for the 7800 if its the car-shooter game.

     

  19. Posted

    45 minutes ago, kiwilove said:

    The only ones missing from this list would be the 400/800 conversions to the 5200 - like Dropzone and Encounter - which are the best of the best.

    Other titles could be mentioned too?

     

    Harvey

    I will throw in Ballblazer, Countermeasure, Galaxian and Zone Ranger and Joust (a good port), somewhere out there.

     

    Don’t know where.

     

    I haven’t really tested Space Dungeon as I don’t have good way of using two sticks.

  20. Posted

    37 minutes ago, kiwilove said:

    The only ones missing from this list would be the 400/800 conversions to the 5200 - like Dropzone and Encounter - which are the best of the best.

    Other titles could be mentioned too?

     

    Harvey

    Yeah, I wondered if I was going to extend it to 30 or 40.

     

    I’ve not seen the games you mentioned.

     

    I wondered how many atari400/800 games that has been successfully ported to the 5200.

     

    If the hardware is quite similar, one should think many of them would easily ported...

     

    ...but heck, what do I know...

  25. Posted · Edited by Giles N

    Is it considered easy or difficult to reprogram games for the Atari 400 or 800 as to run with professional quality on a 5200 system?

     

    Are there big differences in

    1) hardware

    2) program language?

     

    I’m very ‘layman’ as to programming and hardware.

     

    If its possible, please, describe or explain in quite straightforward or common terminology.

     

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