tjb

Well Choplifter was changed for sure, I wouldn't call it enhanced myself though. I haven't played it myself. Better graphics but terrible game play? Or Bad all across the board. From what I've seen of the screen shots I think I would most likely prefer the original. tjb

XE Mario Brother's is much much improved over the earlier 5200 version (was the original version released for computers, i have only every seen the 5200 converted version?) --Ken Was that a "Glenn the 5200 man" special? tjb

I agree about the libraries. I started out working with in the comforts of C using CC65 and calling assembly routines. It got to the point where more and more was done in assembler so I went ahead and went all assembler. I didn't have to conform to CC65's parameter passing scheme or memory model. You're free to do things however you choose. I'm not knocking CC65 mind you, I think it's great. I'd have the same constraints with any C package. On an 8-bit Atari some things nearly have to be done in assembler to gain every precious cycle and byte of space. tjb

Duh, I said Mario Bros. but I meant to say Crystal Castles. I don't think Mario Bros. was revised was it? Was it released as an XE cart? tjb

Right off the top of my head I can think of two games that were re-released as an XE cart that were actually enhanced for the release: Choplifter and Mario Bros. Are their others? tjb

Atasm is still my assembler of choice. tjb

Speaking of cross assemblers, ATASM is compatible with MAC/65: http://atari.miribilist.com/atasm/ Also, I recommend the 6502 Macro Assembler & Simulator: http://atari.miribilist.com/atasm/ It is indispensible. I use it at times to develop/debug assembly subroutines. It allows break points, single stepping, etc. Good luck! tjb

I knew about O'shea but Big Lots offered selected shink wrapped 2600/7800 games at some point? tjb

I've never used the cheat features of the Atari 800Win emulator. Are you referring to disabling collision detection? I may try my hand at creating a map from screenshots. I guess I'm more interested in exploring the game to see all the different areas than actually finishing it. tjb

Can you add me to the list? Thanks, tjb

I'm interested but I'd need to gain some weight. I could probably go with a large if you're willing to make that size tjb

Has anyone gotten very far playing Maxwell Manor? I was playing it this evening and I remember how frustrating the game can be. It's an interesting game but it can be very difficult IMO. Is there a map floating around anywhere? I believe there are random aspects to the game so I don't know if it's possible to map it but it would be nice. tjb

What articles did you write? Have you seen this? www.atarimagazines.com Allan I hate to highjack the thread, but to answer your question... Yes, I've seen it; great site. One of these days I'll have to put my bio on it. My big article (co-written with Phil Mast) was Ultra-Graph, a 3D graphing program, in the November '88 Issue of ST-Log. I also have a few BBS reviews in Analog, and one in Antic. Matt was really helpful with advice (I still have the first email he sent me with advice somewhere in the house), and Lee and Clayton were great to work with. It was great to be able to just call them up when I needed to make an edit or wanted to clarify something. The community was really tight back then - good times. I miss those days. We almost sold Ultra-Graph to Michtron in the form of a graphing utility (think charts like Excel does now), but they wanted too many changes and Phil and I were busy with computer consulting services at the time, so we abandoned that effort. We also had a 3D tank battle play-over-modem game started for the ST in '88 (it looked a little like the arcade Battlezone - vector graphics) , but again real-life got in the way and we never finished it. -Blake Thanks for the info on Matt and your writing experiences. Very interesting stuff. tjb

Propably the biggest difference is the display hardware. According to Wikipedia the resolution of the arcade game is 256×231. It says it has a palette of 8 colors but it's not clear how many it can display at once. It's also not clear if it has any hardware sprites or not but I would guess the answer is no. Basically the arcade game's display hardware is capable of displaying color at higher resolutions than the 8-bit/5200. tjb

Not really although I was playing the Amiga version of Blasteroids the other day and it gave me a few ideas. I just wanted to make a game for the Atari 8-bit/5200 that looked a bit closer to the real thing. I also wanted to have powerups and possibly some new obstacles/enemies. tjb

I don't want to start any rumors but I thought I read he had passed away some years ago on Diana Gruber's site. Of course I can't find that reference anymore. This is true. Matt passed away a number of years ago. He was a known contributor in the Borland programming forums. I recognized the name and asked him if he was indeed the Mat*Rat from the Atari days and he replied confirming he was. I do not recall the cause of death. Just out of curiousity, what languages did he have interest/expertise in (i.e. Delphi, C++)? tjb

It stands as a reminder for me to get off my duff and finish Rasteroids. tjb

This is all I found on him: I found this at the classic computer magazine web site here. tjb

I was reading a review by Matthew Ratcliff in the March 1989 issue of Antic this evening and wondering what ever happened to him. I remember reading that he passed away sometime in 1999 in a "Where are they now" section of a web site that contained a digital archive of Antic. Did anyone know him personally? There was a picture of him in the same issue and he really didn't look to be too old at all. I was wondering what happened? Very sad. He was a huge asset to the Atari community. I remember many many programs and articles from "Mat*Rat" from when I was a teenager. I was also wondering what he did after Antic went under. tjb

What's not to love? The heavy sixer is for those who have an affinity for BBCs (Big Beautiful Consoles) tjb

I usually use a local copy of this one http://www.6502.org/tutorials/6502opcodes.html. I also like to have a copy of Rodnay Zaks' Programming the 6502 handy for reference. tjb

I'm constantly astounded seeing young people here who have an appreciation of Atari consoles. How did you find out about the Atari? I'm really curious. For someone my age (about to turn 42) it's pretty obvious: I experienced the 2600 when I was around 11-12 and later had an Atari Home Computer as a teenager. I think it's cool (as mentioned here previously) that we have a wide range of people of different ages who all share a common interest. I just find it really suprising. tjb

That would be great. The ST accelerator is the AdSpeed ST. I know that it requires removing the 68000 chip (which apparently is not socketed) and replacing it with a socket that the replacement chip then plugs into. I have little to no experience in soldering/de-soldering so I am confident I would screw this up I used to rely on Longhorn Engineer for my modding needs. He did good work and he was close (I'm in San Antonio and he's in Houston) but I sent him a Intellivision for an A/V mod months ago and never heard back from him. I've PMed him since but have gotten no response. tjb

I know this has been discussed before but is there a high quality composite to VGA converter you could recommend? I currently have 2 and neither is very good. tjb