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For a few weeks now I am thinking more and more about - please just theoretically at this point - what if I like to produce a real cartridge for an »Atari 800 XL« system? Say I have a game in either 16 Kbyte or 32 Kbyte - or maybe more - and I like to put this into a cartridge. I am not talking about programming but manufacturing this. The 16 Kbyte version would be straight forward with just some very simple glue logic on the board. 32 Kbyte - and possible more - would need some bank switching logic, prefereable the one for the XEGS (for not inventing the wheel again and again). Does some PCBs for such circumstances already exist? What would you do if you like to put your game onto a real board? I am not talking about harvesting existing cartridges but making something on your own. Any suggestions appreciated. Kind regards, Henrik (Island2Live)

(latest update: January 23rd 2024) ALL THE VINTAGE CHANNEL F GAMES ...AND MORE - ONLY $172 GET ONE NOW! FREE Tracked Shipping Worldwide Get it now: https://paypal.me/e5frog/172 If not using the PayPal "friends and family" option it's US$184 https://paypal.me/e5frog/184 Make sure payment is sent in US$ Auto switching Multi-Cart with more than all original software. Fits all System Fairchild machines no matter what the TV system is (so Fairchild, Zircon, SABA, ITT, Nordmende, Luxor, Barco, Ingelen, Grandstand, Dumont, Emerson). Please, either answer in this thread, send a personal message or e-mail to address further down. Multi-Cart will be delivered in a brand new box. Cartridge shell is a used original with new labels and new PCB. The shell will have signs of wear. If you wish to provide your own cart shell - let me know. I can have 3D-printed shells made at the buyers expense, last time I checked it was about $70 for the cheapest material at a professional manufacturer. If you want to print your own shell I can provide 3D print files. To my knowledge the Multi-Cart contains all original games and variations (both Democarts, all dumped protos, newly made games and known homebrews) for the System Fairchild, and a bunch of homebrew - even the complete version of Pac-Man! Games can be chosen via a menu that you reach by resetting the system while holding button 1. Holding other buttons or combination thereof while resetting will immediately start one of the more popular games (according to previous requests), just check the instructions on the back label (before inserting, afterwards will be tricky). How to select game: Try and find the Easter Egg(s) in your cartridge menu... Payment Instructions: Please use the friends/family/personal payment so I don't have to pay the fee, you can use the link on top. For manual payment with the same prices: http://paypal.com my address is e5frog@gmail.com I will also answer e-mails sent to that address. Make sure payment is sent in US$ ... and not KR/SEK - as PayPal seems to change the currency by default. If you read all these instructions, ask me to knock off $10 on the price. Please write your shipping address as well as email address as a message in your PayPal payment These are not automatically included with personal payment, if you forget to include it send an e-mail to the same address or send me a PM here. For European customers I also accept bank transfer, just write me a message and I'll supply needed information. For Swedish users there's the above but also the option of using Swish (you send money with your phone almost as easy as a text message), let me know. Customizations are possible, if you want something special, let's talk about it, I'm not difficult. List of games (Latest update April 20th 2020): All the happy customers until today: ================================================================= This is a hobby of mine, I build these in the order they were purchased. It may take some time for it be built and to reach you from Sweden. I hope it's worth waiting for. Waiting orders:

Many thanks to all who contributed (see credits below) and voted. The final version includes a Novice, Arcade, and Expert difficulty. Novice - Rev F Popeye Faster; Spinach resets after losing a life; Extra @ 26,500 Arcade Comparable to arcade difficulty; extra life at 40,000 Expert Brutus is faster and more aggressive; Bernard is craftier; Items fall really fast Credits: Thanks to all who voted Popeye as 2020's "Best Homebrew Atari 7800 (WIP)". A SPECIAL game demo is available on the JS7800 emulator. This demo includes Novice & Expert. Popeye gets 2 lives, but he can earn a 3rd. The game ends after the ship, so POINT PRESSING IS A MUST! The game is 1 or 2 player alternating. Red background can be removed in the full version: right, down, right, up, up down Video: Below is the DEMO version (Most recent to oldest). Players can play 1 or 2 player. Players now get 2 lives and can earn a 3rd. Players cannot unlock the cheat mode in the demo. Arcade mode is the only level available. Novice and Expert are exclusive to the final version and the version on the JS7800 emulator. 3/3/2021 - Demo of version 2.40! For Concerto compatibility, I have to run firmware .95. Added High Score Cartridge header for use on 7800GD No slowdown Better collision detection Brutus throws 4 bottles, regardless of whether Popeye leaves his line of sight. Revision F is now pink, like the arcade. It can still be turned off with the code. Unlocked Novice and Expert levels Popeye now has 3 lives for all demo difficulty levels. (Full version offers 5 lives on Novice.) Still limited to 3 levels of play. Points awarded for punching bottles on the See-Saw level. Popeye_2.40_Demo_8-8-23.a78 3/3/2021 - RC3.5 Concerto still has issues at times. Dragonfly now seems stable. These issues do not happen on the final cart media. The mcpdev is also very stable. There are some minor cleanups. Fixed the color on the high score erase screen. This is it, unless some bugs come up that need attention. Popeye(RC3.5_Demo_NTSC-PAL).a78 Popeye(RC3.5_Demo_BUP).a78 2/25/2021 - RC3.4 Fine tuning. Brutus now jumps at an angle, like the arcade. It's not quite as drastic. Popeye(RC3.4_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC3.4_Demo-BUP).a78 2/22/2021 - RC3.3 Tile change on first level. Was able to add a rail to the ship's crow's nest, during the intro and level clear. I also found out that Olive doesn't scold Popeye if a Letter falls into the water, on the ship level. I have corrected that inconsistency. I assume it doesn't make sense, since she's captured in this level. Popeye(RC3.3_Demo_NTSC-PAL).a78 Popeye(RC3.3_Demo_BUP).a78 2/21/2021 - RC3.2 More minor graphical changes. Now the title Popeye head has a brown pipe, like the arcade. Tile tweaks on the first level. Also reversed the ship mast shading, to match the arcade. Popeye(RC3.2Demo_NTSC-PAL).a78 Popeye(RC3.2Demo_BUP).a78 2/21/2021 - RC3.1 Minor update. Has a few tile changes Popeye(RC3.1_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC3.1_Demo_BUP).a78 2/20/2021 - RC3.0 This version has a lot more changes than a "release candidate" should have. From this point out, I would like to stick to bug-fixes. Fixed a high score issue, which was introduced by adding the High Score Clear. I noticed this while watching the @ZeroPage Homebrew stream. Each difficulty should line up properly now (Novice, Arcade, and Expert). No high score device should read "Top 5 Chart". That is the header for the arcade table. High Score Clear is accessed by holding RESET and pressing both buttons on the first stick! Also seen on ZPH: Brutus doesn't get stuck in the bottom left corner when Popeye has the spinach. (He gets stuck in the bottom left corner of the Notes board, but that is by design. That happens in the arcade.) @Defender_2600 had color suggestions: Popeye's drawn with a different hue of blue. The ship has a more midnight blue background, and the floors are more golden than yellow. (The arcade is a dark blue-ish purple when I play on an actual arcade machine. It seems similar in MAME.) Defender2600 had level suggestions: The Notes screen tower is now slightly thinner. The floor that leads to the see saw no longer extends to the end of the building. This required a lot of work in adjusting the logic. (See below) Fixed some tiles on the ship level. More color adjustments. REV F ROM set (Novice is based off an easier Popeye arcade ROM) has more of a burgundy background, on the Hearts level. The arcade REV F has a pink-ish background. I think this works well. The old "brown" was mistaken for green. Popeye now turns red, instead of pink, when he eats the spinach. Logic adjustments with see saw logic: This was about 8-10 hours consuming. I had some logic in place. Moving the floor exposed a couple holes in that logic, given a very specific alignment of the stars. In making the level adjustment, I got to recreate the 1%. It was still extremely hard to recreate. If Brutus kicked into pursuit mode, right as Popeye jumped onto the see saw, Brutus could still jump on top of Popeye. I believe I worked this out. I can't seem to get it to happen again. Tune adjustment: If the last item gets collected from the water, the game does not revert to the level tune. Last Note & Last Letter would sometimes still be present. I think I took care of that issue. Fixed some garbage that would flash after dying on the Notes stage. Popeye(RC3_Demo_NTSC-PAL).a78 Popeye(RC3_Demo_BUP).a78 2/9/2021 - RC2.9 Many fixes and updates. I am concerned that "Arcade" difficulty feels a little easier to me. That might encourage more people to play the arcade difficulty. I do want it to feel like the arcade challenge though. I can run this for hours on my Dragonfly and versa-cart, without any issues. It does crash at times on Concerto. It seems to be when idling in attract mode. 1. Fixed remaining issues with Brutus's pursuit music. 2. Colors and spinach timing are different for NTSC and PAL systems. 3. Reduced slowdown by limiting collision detection-per-frame. 4. Better proportioned Bucket. @KevinMos3 5. Adjusted the better proportioned bucket to fit Brutus's head 6. Lessened the use of flicker in some areas, due to the overhead saved in adjusting the collision. 7. Minor bug fix: Popeye disappears if collecting the last note when starting up or down the ladder. 8. Updated the Windows on the Notes Level. 9. Found duplicate tiles, and used the extras for "Thru" posts on level 2. 10. Last player 1 and player 2 scores display in blue during demo. 11. Fine-tuned Popeye's punch. ** 12. Popeye walks off the screen when wrapping around on the levels. ** 13. Brutus doesn't gain super speed when Popeye gets the spinach. 14. Brutus imitates the quirky behavior of the arcade when he's stuck in the corner, by the see saw. (When Popeye has spinach) 15. Brutus logic tweaks. 16. Fixed some artifacting when returning from demo play. Popeye(RC2.9_Demo-NTSC-PAL).a78 Popeye(RC2.9_Demo-BUP).a78 Most will not notice this change. Eliminates a flash of garbage after Popeye dies on the notes and ship levels. Popeye(RC2.9a_Demo_NTSC-PAL)s.a78 Popeye(RC2.9a_Demo_BUP).a78 2/1/2021 - RC2.8 Update. Only need one version for A7800, Concerto, and Dragonfly. BUP has a special version. I can play this version all day on my Dragonfly or versa-cart, and it doesn't crash. It plays pretty long on the Concerto, especially once things are warmed up. There's nothing I can do about that at this time. That was the inspiration to clean much of the back code up. A LOT of behind-the-scenes cleanup & some polish The bottles rotate slower - @tep392 Olive doesn't constantly walk on the Notes and Ship. (This affects game play in other ways that I won't disclose.) When Brutus gets his burst of energy, the bottle throwing music now plays, like the arcade. Popeye's house now has window panes. I can't believe I missed that. Popeye's now falls below the water line when he dies. On the arcade, Popeye reappears at the waterline, following the splash. I made Popeye bob back to the top. I like arcade purity, but I think they did it that way for sprite overlap issues with the water. The demo play scene is now more versatile. Popeye gets scolded often, like the arcade. Fixed rare combination that would silence music on the Notes level. Popeye(RC-2.8_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC-2.8_Demo-BUP).a78 As always, play the point-pressing version on JS7800! 1/26/2021 - RC2.7 The levels are now more in-line with the arcade aspect. Many tiles were re-drawn and repurposed. This was a 14-hour day (with hour break) and a few hours the following evening. The characters now know the levels, the attract modes are up to date, and everything seems fine. Let me know if there are any issues. @Defender_2600 suggested that I address the issue with the crammed levels. I didn't think I'd have enough tiles, but it worked out in the end. I think it was worth the effort. He also recommended toning down the yellow a little. Redrew the tiles Reprogrammed the tile graphics to line up with the new tile indexes (Hearts in the house, Whimpy and the see saw, etc.) Reset the coordinates for the staircases Reworked the self-play intro Cleaned up some sprite plotting. Adjusted some areas where the text colors were not flipping correctly. Popeye(RC2.7_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC2.7_Demo-BUP).a78 Popeye(RC2.7_Demo-Concerto).a78 1/23/2021 - RC 2.6 This version has major tile re-work. I started cleaning up the first level. This simulates the lower-res look of the arcade. In doing so, this cleans things up. Bricks are no longer 1px apart vertically, the stairs have 2px underneath. The floors are thicker, including the bottom level. I am unable to color the bottom blue, but I have a water shadow of sorts, to keep in the arcade spirit. On the logic side, I adjusted Brutus's randomness. He is less likely to jump down, based on difficulty, round, and number of items collected. This may not be obvious, because he will still jump down a decent amount of the time. Changing logic meant adjusting the demo play. The demo play now starts with an example of a heart falling into the water. Popeye(Beta2.6_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.6_Demo-BUP).a78 Popeye(Beta2.6_Demo-Concerto).a78 1/16/2025 - RC 2.5 I wasn't going to do this, due to the amount of work, but I had to. New upper playfield on Level 1. The tileset with the grass are now one row lower, allowing more arcade-accuracy. Transferred tiles from one tileset to another, which caused an offset in tiles re-aligned plotted tiles (hearts in Popeye's house) Olive will now center herself after throwing the last heart. This keeps the large heart from being drawn off-screen. Fixed the staircase "bricks" to be blockier, like the arcade Revision F has a plum background, to match the arcade ROMs Flower doesn't disappear when level 1 is cleared Popeye(RC2.5_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC2.5_Demo-BUP).a78 Popeye(RC2.5_Demo-Concerto).a78 1/14/2021 - RC 2.4 Got rid of random off-pitch item collection noise, @playsoft This makes the game more stable using the Concerto. The sound seems to behave similarly to other games I tested. This has gotten rid of complete songs playing out of tune or missing parts. Updated sprites and palettes Title music plays every other loop; Atari Today only plays when the game is turned on. Olive doesn't walk in space after scolding Popeye Popeye's footsteps are closer to the arcade pattern. Overhaul of Popeye's ladder climb Fix some reset behavior The JS7800 Demo will also be updated, which allows Novice & Expert to be played. Popeye(RC2.4_Demo).a78 Popeye(RC2.4_Demo_Bup).a78 Popeye(RC2.4_Demo-Concerto).a78 1/2/2021 - Beta 2.9 Two-Player with shared joystick option. I figure this will be helpful for people with only one joystick. Sometimes I just like to play a two player game by myself. This should also help @ZeroPage Homebrew too ;). New death sound by @Synthpopalooza Updated the credits page More Popeye sprite tweaks Updated self-play sequence Brutus is smarter when Popeye has the spinach. Olive screams "HELP!" on the ship level. "Popeye Catch!" call out is present on the Notes level now. (Yes, the gray does show through the letters on the arcade too!) If the punch button is pressed during an intro or pause before a level starts, Popeye will punch when the level begins. This is a personal detail I wanted to include from the arcade. I am out of space in the hearts bank, so that level doesn't have a pause after the intro. No room. Shifted some code for less bank switching on the hearts level. Brutus is back to throwing a minimum of 2 bottles, instead of 4. This reduces slowdown, which is a better experience. All systems of the day made exceptions. He will still throw up to 4, if Popeye is in his line of site. Popeye(Beta2.9_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.9_Demo-BUP).a78 Popeye(Beta2.9_Demo-Concerto).a78 12/25/2020 - Beta 2.8 - Many Changes. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays Thanks to @tep392, I have confirmation that POKEY sound on actual hardware matches emulation. Just in time for a late Christmas release! Sound will still cut in and out on the Concerto, but some sound is better than none! Since it's Christmas, I have changed the "DEMO" version to include 2 lives (an extra life can be earned). The game now ends after clearing the SHIP. Updated sprites and colors Brutus has different color outfits to match each level Other various changes *** Brutus now throws all 4 bottles, like the arcade. I am not sure that I want to keep this, but I wanted to try it for a version. In a previous version, I added code to allow Brutus to stop throwing bottles after the second one, if Popeye leaves his line of sight. This helps eliminate some minor slow down. Also, there are certain areas where Brutus and the bottles will cause sprite overload. This is found on the Notes level. Should I sacrifice arcade pureness for this to eliminate slowdown and what ends up being flicker? I might go back in the next version. Will that be the final version? Updates some of the self-playing demo routines. Updated the credits. That still needs tweaked and cleaned up, but I wanted to get it out there. Popeye(Beta2.8_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.8_Demo_BUP).a78 Popeye(Beta2.8_Demo-Concerto).a78 Popeye(Beta2.8_Demo).bin 12/8/2020 - Beta 2.7f - Fixes and clean-up. Popeye(Beta2.7f_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.7f_Demo_BUP).a78 Popeye(Beta2.7f_Demo-Concerto).a78 Popeye(Beta2.7f_Demo).bin 11/27-2020 - Beta 2.7 Popeye(Beta2.7_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.7_Demo).bin 11/24/2020 - Beta 2.6 Updated high score routines No High Score device - "Todays Top 5" will be stored with initials until power off. High Score device - "Novice Top 5", "Arcade Top 5", and "Expert Top 5" saved permanently. Brutus will wait for Popeye to clear the see saw, like the arcade. He did before in most cases. I fixed this when Brutus is in pursuit mode. Fixed artifacting on Title screen, found when level was selected in 2.5b Popeye(Beta2.6_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.6_Demo).bin 11/23/2020 - Beta 2.5b - Update Popeye's fall (slower), fix bottle collision at far left, align some title elements. Popeye(Beta2.5b_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.5b_Demo_BUP).a78(BUP disables high score saving, to work with BupSystem emulator) Popeye(Beta2.5b_Demo).bin 11/23/2020 - Beta 2.5a - Fix collision issues with items (still broken on some far-left bottles); Set Popeye stance after punch; slowed notes on higher levels Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).bin Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo_Bup).a78 11/09/2020 - Original public demo Popeye(Beta2.1_Demo).a78 Popeye(Beta2.7f_Demo).bin Older revision screenshots

This is a new game I made for Gameboy Color! The files attached are: Label (.png file) Gameboy Color Rom (.gb file) Enjoy! HyperWarpV1.gb

Laura, an awesome new game has been released at Silly Venture 2K16 in Poland: http://www.arsoft.netstrefa.pl/laura.htm An English version will be available in the future. I will definitely buy it. Thank you Arkadiusz and Polish Atari friends!

Last game of mine, coded with the great guys of OCEO team @marss and glafouk, for this great year of Atari Lynx coding. Game story: The contest for the best lawnmower is open and you want to win the first prize. First train yourself with nine basic lawns then enter the competition trying to mow 23 of the worst lawns of the city. To be a pro mower remember to cut only the grass because flowers and other obstacles will make you lose fuel. Don't hurt the moles if you don't want to be disqualified, but if you close their holes they will stop disturbing you If you are short of fuel find a tank before it is over; some special tanks have less fuel but contain additives that give you bonus powers for a limited time. There are three difficulty levels: it is better to practice with the easy one before trying the others. Good luck! The game ROM will be published by Silly Venture on December 25th, so there is time to make a final fixing and tuningof the games. Here are some pics and a video of the game (it is the backup video sent to Silly Venture in case there was problems running the game). Lawnmower.txt

Finally! This is going to be a fun one, I think. This idea came from two different places. First was last year's @ZeroPage Homebrew stream where he was trying to come up with Christmas, or at least winter themed games for a holiday show. I got to thinking about it, and realized that I couldn't come up with a single Christmas game for the 5200. Even winter themed games were hard to come by, I could only come up with RealSports Curling and that's kind of a stretch. So, I resolved myself to fix this problem. To create the much-needed Christmas game for the 5200. Enter my second idea. I had long been toying with the idea of doing a film adaptation. Now, obviously there are a ton of legal issues involved with this, so I thought it might be fun to adapt a movie in the public domain. It was then that inspiration struck, as I remembered that the 1964 holiday "classic" Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was in the public domain! Much like how Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping, my game could be both a Christmas game and a film adaptation! Two great tastes in one project. As a huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, this is a movie I'm already very familiar with, so I started coming up with some basic ideas before I even rewatched the film for research. The idea I'm running with right now is for something very much like Jungle Hunt. A series of mostly independent screens with completely different game play on each screen. The screens will roughly follow the plot of the movie, with certain liberties taken here and there. I'll sum up the plot here: The children of Mars are depressed, or something. So Kimar, who seems to be the Martian leader, consults a wise old Martian for help. He learns that the children of Mars are moody because they don't have Christmas. Kimar hatches a plan to travel to Earth and kidnap Santa Claus so they can force him to bring Christmas to Mars. During the mission they meet Billy and Betty, a pair of Earth children who somehow get caught up in the whole mess. Kimar and his gang grab Santa, bringing him and the Earth children back to Mars. One particular Martian named Voldar keeps opposing Kimar every step of the way, believing that this whole Christmas thing will turn the people of Mars soft, into Martianmallows, if you will. Voldar is basically the movie's villain. Santa and the kids are put to work on Mars making toys, alongside Kimar's children Bomar and Girmar. Kimar builds a toy machine for Santa to help him, since he lacks his usual workshop and elves. Then there's Dropo, who seems to be some kind of servant to Kimar, as the "funny one." He develops an obsession with Santa and starts dressing up as him. Voldar sneaks in to disable the toy machine and finds Dropo in Santa garb, and decides to kidnap him thinking he's the real Santa. More hijinks ensue, and in the end Voldar is defeated in an epic toy battle, Dropo becomes the Santa Claus of Mars, and Santa and the children return to Earth in time for Christmas. Lots of great material to work with here! After a few viewings, I've come up with a rough five-stage plan which is of course subject to massive change: 1: North Pole Escape Early in the film, Billy and Betty are brought to the north pole by the Martians on their way to grab Santa. They escape the ship after Dropo released them and try to reach Santa's workshop to warn him. In the movie they are pursued by Voldar and the mighty robot Torg. A "polar bear" also gets involved. For this screen, I'm imagining some kind of maze chase where the kids have to evade Voldar, Torg, and the "polar bear" and reach Santa's workshop. In the movie, the kids are actually caught by Torg, but I'll take some creative license here. There's a part in the movie where Voldar follows the kids' footprints, so maybe I could work that in somehow. Voldar also gets scared off the by "polar bear" so that's another interesting angle. Torg fears nothing. 2. Airlock Escape On the way to Mars, Voldar tries to kill Santa and the kids by shooting them out of the airlock, but they escape due to Santa's magical ability to traverse air ducts or something. I think there's something workable here. 3. Martian toy shop This is just screaming out for a Pressure Cooker style order-fulfillment game, where you control the kids trying to correctly manage toys as they come out of the machine. 4. Voldar's cave After Voldar kidnaps Dropo, he takes him to a cave hideout which is locked by something called a nuclear curtain. I don't know what that is, but it sounds awesome. Dropo later escapes the cave, and I think there could be stage here involving these nuclear curtains. 5. Kids vs. Voldar Of course, the final showdown has to be here. This stage would involve the kids fighting Voldar in the toy shop to complete the cycle. After that, the game would loop with more difficulty, as good games do. So that's my rough plan. I should also mention that I'm planning to do this on a 512KB cartridge. This will allow me to make all kinds of cool intermission scenes, possibly with stills from the movie. I'm very much looking forward to it. I don't expect to be able to start any coding until at least after PRGE. Still working out design stuff. Each phase of the game can be worked on in isolation though, so it should be an interesting project.

Harpy's Curse 7800 is out now to purchase on the Atari VCS Store! Taken from the Discord announcement: On the Atari VCS Store now: *Harpy's Curse: 7800* You are a harpy - swift of wing and vicious in nature. Banished to a deadly labyrinth, you are tasked with defeating the four keepers of the maze - only then can you face the Great Sphinx, who exiled you here. The labyrinth contains legendary artifacts - feathers of legendary birds and beasts that might aid you. Power might be found here, but you genuinely wish for escape, and the only way out is through the Sphinx. • Explore a vast scrolling maze made up of over 500 screens! • Fly and fight your way to find new abilities and powers! • Five bosses to find hidden among the winding passages! *Note*: the game does work with the Modern Controller, but the emulator has a feature that can lead to frustration. Currently, the emulator has the L3 (the left joystick button) mapped as a Game Reset. This makes it very easy to reset your game amid play. This button mapping will get updated very soon. For now, the Joystick is the best way to play the game, but you can play with the Modern Controller if you know the L3 issue.

Just a quick post, turned on the Atari VCS 800 and we have x5 new homebrew games available. We have ZPH. The Game, Strike Zone. 2600, A.R.T. I. 7800, E.X.O.7800, Game Panic 3 . Looks like tonights entertainment is sorted! What an amazing game drop

The Atari 7800 Dragon Trilogy is now available on the Atari VCS 800 store. The games are Dragon's Havoc, Dragon's Cache, Dragon's Descent. I believe these are the last games of the year for the Atari VCS 800 and what a way to round it of if you ask me 🙂

Current A8PicoGram status (2023-12-12) I have 10+ of both white and black PCBs, I have envelopes, and I have a little bit of free time. Let’s get these boards out the door and on their way to you! Hello, I am starting an A8PicoGram service. I will send you two (2) bare “OG” electrotrains A8PicoCart PCBs, anywhere in the world, shipped direct from California, for one single price. What is an “A8PicoCart”? The A8PicoCart uses a clone of the Raspberry Pi Pico board to “listen” to the electrical signals on an 8-bit Atari computer’s cartridge slot, then emulate the electrical signals of a “real” ROM cartridge. To your Atari 8-bit computer, it won’t know the difference between an A8PicoCart and a real cartridge. You can find out more about the A8PicoCart in the thread here on AtariAge: Currently, the A8PicoGram service will be offering the “electrotrains” variant of the A8PicoCart. You can find the user manual for the A8PicoCart here: https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart/blob/main/A8PicoCart%20Manual.pdf About the PCBs… I have the “electrotrains” A8PicoCart PCB’s in white or black, with a HASL lead-free finish, and with a 45° bevel on the insertion edge of the board. If you decide to order an A8PicoGram, you can choose one of: Two white PCBs Two black PCBs Or you can be extra daring and/or fashionable, and get one white and one black PCB. Here's a picture of the 45° bevel compared to the 90° edges. Shipping I will be using USPS Domestic (USA) or International First Class mail for shipping, which is untracked. Let me say this again: I will be using USPS Domestic (USA) or International First Class mail for shipping, which is untracked. Getting tracking numbers would in most cases raise the cost of shipping between 5 and 10 times, and I’d have to start thinking about customs forms and such. It kind of defeats the purpose of distributing such a low-cost project in my opinion. The PCBs will be wrapped inside of a piece of paper with your address on it, in case the address on the outside of the envelope gets ripped off during processing/shipping. The paper-wrapped PCBs will then be inserted inside “photo mailers” (cardboard envelopes used for mailing photographs) and sent out. What I can do instead of tracking numbers is send you a picture of your envelope dropping into the mailbox, so you know about what time it will leave California on its way to you. If you want the picture, please ask for it, otherwise I won’t shoot one. How to order? Send me a private message (PM) here on AtariAge (https://forums.atariage.com/profile/30908-spicyjack/), and I’ll send you my PayPal address. I’m accepting PayPal only for now. When you send me the PM to order, let me know the following info: Whether you want 2 black PCBs, 2 white PCBs, or the fashionable 1 white/1 black pairing of PCBs Your name, and the address where I should ship the A8PicoGram to Your PayPal email, so I can connect AA people to emails in PayPal; you could also include your AA username in the “Notes” box in PayPal, that would help a lot If you are including extra money as a donation to “electrotrains”, and/or you want me to make your donation "anonymous", let me know that as well If you want me to send you a picture of your envelope being dropped into the mailbox, for “tracking” purposes; if you don’t mention it, I won’t take a picture When you send me the money via PayPal, make sure you check the box that says: "Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services" And send the money in “US dollars” (USD). I will ship from California on Wednesdays and Saturdays, excluding US holidays (Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc.), when the post office here is closed. If you PayPal me the money before noon California time (that would be 8pm UTC, we are 8 hours behind UTC) on Wednesday or Saturday, I'll ship the same day. Well, how much does all this cost? Here are the total prices in US dollars (USD) for sending 2 x A8PicoCart PCBs to you in a nice envelope, with all postage and handling included; If you live in… USA - $11 (estimated ship time: 2-8 days) Canada - $12 (estimated ship time: 1-2 weeks) Mexico - $14 (estimated ship time: 2-3 weeks) South America - $15 (estimated ship time: 2-4 weeks) Europe (EU Zone)/UK/Australia/New Zealand/Asia - $16 (estimated ship time: 2-4 weeks, depending on where you live and how close you are to a big city) If your country is not listed here, PM me and ask, so I can go find out and let you know. Most likely, it will end up being the $16 total price. For the curious, shipping weight is 2oz (55g I think), and the envelope size is 6.5" x 4.5" x 3/16" (16.5cm x 11.5cm x 4cm) Donations to electrotrains $2.00USD from every A8PicoGram will be donated to “electrotrains”, $1.00USD per board. I will add your AtariAge username to the donation, if you want, so he knows who it is from. I will also make “anonymous” donations if you want, it’s up to you. If you want to donate more $$$ to “electrotrains”, just let me know beforehand, so I know what to do with the extra money you will be sending. Those prices are kind of crazy! Yeah, so let’s break the costs down… The two PCBs, envelopes, tape and labels are about $6 total. $2 for donations for two PCBs, so that’s roughly $8USD just to get it ready to ship. The rest of the money is for postage and PayPal merchant fees, the cost of which depends on destination. I’m getting more or less about $1 per board (usually less), depending on which country I’m sending this to. It’s still too much Feel free to download and order your own PCBs, the Gerbers are up in the “OG” electrotrains A8PicoCart repo: https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart You’ll see it gets expensive quickly for small amounts of boards. More about the A8PicoGram Service Everybody who orders an A8PicoGram will be shipped two (2) PCBs… even if you only want one. It’s FAR cheaper to ship two, and it allows for things like solder mistakes, spilled drinks, making new Atari friends, and so on and so forth. There is a limit of two (2) PCBs per order, so that everyone who wants a pair of PCBs has a chance to get them. If this “service” becomes really popular and I order more PCBs, I may go back and revisit this limit at a later date. Known A8PicoCart Variants The “electrotrains” variant of the A8PicoCart (https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart) has the PCBs designed so that the USB-C connector on the Purple Pico clone is facing “down” when inserted, i.e. the USB-C port on the Purple Pico is facing the cartridge slot in your Atari. This is so you can’t plug in USB-C power with your Atari turned off and accidentally “back-power” your Atari, thereby letting out “magick smoke” and causing great sadness to be had. These are the simplest A8PicoCart boards to buy parts for and solder, you only need to find a Purple Pico Clone, some pin headers (usually included with the Purple Pico), and possibly the optional pushbutton switch. There’s also an optional 3D printed cartridge shell for the “electrotrains” OG PCB, see the GitHub repo above. There are older designs by “electrotrains” that have the USB-C port pointing to the side of the cart. These versions are not being offered by me at this time. There is now (as of December 2023) also the “mozzwald” variant of this PCB, which I am NOT currently offering, this version is still being developed (somewhat) and tested. If you want some of the “mozzwald” variant A8PicoCart PCBs, you will have to either order them yourself from a PCB fab house, or have patience and wait for someone to order a batch and sell them. I may sell the “mozzwald” variants of the A8PicoCart at a later date, but no promises. Also, the “mozzwald” variant will need more parts and more soldering, but it will be more flexible as far as hardware and software development on your Atari. The “mozzwald” variant PCBs and 3D printed cartridge shells can be found here: https://github.com/mozzwald/A8PicoCart Ordering the rest of the required parts I’m not currently selling anything but A8PicoCart PCBs, everything else you will need to source yourself. For Purple Pico clone boards, I’ve had good luck with this vendor on AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804090698520.html I’ve received Purple Picos from this vendor with the "faster" Winbond SPI flash chip, however, both of the known SPI flash chips that have been seen so far “in the wild” are supported in the current A8PicoCart firmware. Last time I ordered Purple Pico clones from AliExpress in August, it took about 2 weeks to take delivery from China to me here in California. If you want to save some wear on your Atari’s power switch, you can add the optional pushbutton switch to the A8PicoCart. You will need a “6x6mm thru-hole tactile momentary switch”. If you are going to 3D print a cartridge shell, then 9mm+ pushbutton height is suitable. But I don’t know how to solder… If you don’t know how to solder at all, you can buy cheap kits on FleaBay/Amazon/AliExpress that are sold for the purpose of helping you teach yourself how to solder. They are probably somewhat more “expendable” than your soon-to-be shiny new A8PicoCart. Search for “soldering practice kit” or “soldering practice board” if you are interested in this. A “cheap” soldering iron would also work for this project, but again, I would use it on the practice board first before trying it out on the A8PicoCart, so you can get a feel for how your new soldering iron works. The “electrotrains” version of the A8PicoCart is (in my opinion) an “okay” first soldering project, in that if you make a mistake soldering, you probably won’t be able to figure it out as easily as you could with a dedicated soldering practice kit. Don’t be afraid to try it however, and if you run into problems, post pictures of your soldering job on the A8PicoCart thread here on AA, and you’ll get help. Here’s a list of other suggested places where you could get help with soldering… Ask around at local computer clubs or user groups; I think all of the VCF’s usually run a soldering table. Ask around at local electronics clubs or at electronics supply stores Look for local computer/electronics groups on Meetup Ask around at community colleges or trade schools Ask on your local Craigslist, maybe in the “gigs” section Find a local makerfair and ask/look around for the soldering area, there will usually be one there There’s also probably a billion videos on all of the popular video services… this may be a case of “too much is not such a good thing after all”. I definitely trust anything Dave at EEVBlog posts, so you can start there (https://www.eevblog.com/) How can I trust you with my $$$? No tracking numbers, remember? Know that I’m not putting this all together to “make money”. However, I want to do it, because 1) I think it’s a great project that I want to support however I can, and 2) I feel it will help me connect to others in this community who feel the same way. If you have any questions about A8PicoGrams Ask them below, I'll do my best to answer. Ordering info again, just in case… Send me a PM here on AA (https://forums.atariage.com/profile/30908-spicyjack/). When you send me the PM to order, let me know the following info: Whether you want 2 black PCBs, 2 white PCBs, or the fashionable 1 white/1 black pairing of PCBs Your name, and the address where I should ship the A8PicoGram to Your PayPal email, so I can connect AA people to emails in PayPal; you could also include your AA username in the “Notes” box in PayPal, that would help a lot If you are including extra money as a donation to “electrotrains”, and/or you want me to make your donation "anonymous", let me know that as well If you want me to send you a picture of your envelope being dropped into the mailbox, for “tracking” purposes; if you don’t mention it, I won’t take a picture

So I've been toying around with the idea of using an animated playfield as a game mechanic. In this concept art, I'm using the playfield to represent a waterbed (dark green) with physics that interact with the player sprites to dip when landed on and propel player sprites where it swells. I'm not aware of any games that have this sort of physics simulation, but it could make for some unique gameplay. Think Circus meets Frogger meets waterbed. As a non-developer, I'm wondering: if this is even feasible if I have false expectations of what can be achieved with missile sprites (see non-player sprites layer) if there's anyone crazy enough to collaborate with me to make this into a real game Also open to any feedback or suggestions.

Hey guys, I'm here to tell you that I just published a game for so dear Atari 2600, it's called Duelo and it's a shooter, but unlike other shooters on the system it's only 2 kilobytes, it was a bit challenging to make a game of this size that provides a similar experience there are space invaders or demon attack. It's available for free on Itchio, at this link: Duelo by Nomad Natan (itch.io) I hope you like it 😄

2018.02.09. - Update I think these may be the final versions. PAL: PAL60: (flicker and interference is because my recorder can really not handle 60Hz) I did not record the NTSC because I don't have an NTSC console, Z26 emulator does not emulate the timing errors and somehow even the older and the current Stella both does not want to let Fraps record my gameplay, only the sound. There were things those I could work and and some that I couldn't. Mostly because of the 262 cycles. .Now, as asked, the fire button makes you jump, so on the last part as you are shooting sick people you have to use UP for shooting. It's a really easy part, so it won't disturb you hopely. -I tried to go under 262 cycles as possible, that was the most disturbing thing, creating a lot of jumps if something is not needed. You can see that there are some levels where you can jump on platforms under them, it's because I had to turn off pfreads for those parts, that is the command that eats most of the cycles. Sometimes it will happen in the NTSC and PAL60 versions, with PAL you have more cycles, so it works perfectly, but it's slower because of the 50Hz. -There will be some glitches, it's because I would need TWICE of the pfreads to make sure if there is an object in front of you, over you or under you. The hardest part was jumping, so I had to make strange decisions in coding that I am not proud of. -Unfortunately, I had to cut the last boss because of the strange sprite placement of BB, it puts them into the last bank no matter what and of I don't want to put them all there, creating a long cycle that causes overload again and sometimes, I could cry instead of shouting and hitting the desk or the keyboard. -I tried another way to make the score background black, but make the last row of background gray, so you could recognize holes easier, I could insert this little code asm minikernel sta WSYNC lda $00 sta COLUBK rts end into vblank, but it left out a lof and there was a lot if gray under the last row of blocks (BB leaves the 12th row empty for vertical scrolling), and to be honest, it looked uggly. -You can press Select, it does the same thing on the titlescreen as reset, I used it for testing and jumping to the desired room, now it goes to room0. I wanted to remove it, but if I do it, the game won't load the main cycle with the gameplay. Why won't it? Don't know, BB has some really strange and unfair things, sometimes it "creates errors" while compiling that makes no sense. I think other errors were corrected that I found while testing, if you find more, please, tell me! I attached the code of someone is curious about it. https://www.4shared.com/archive/q19JSx1jca/titlescreen.html<< The title screen for assembling. 2018.01.25. - Update: The two main music got an update, and I show you one of the two bosses. It's a reference to something. 2018.01.15. Update: New rooms, objects and the cave. 2018.04.01. Update: Some little changes were made based on requests. 2018.01.14. Update: This is the state I'm right now. Unfortunately I had to remove a lot of ideas (mostly collectible items) because I just had ran out of variables. Of course there are var0-var8 besides a-z, but they are part of the playfield, so after I redraw the playfield, they are set as the playfield is set at that. This would make these variables only usable inside of the room, but I mostly need counters and these varx-es can only have 0 or 1 as a value. The other thing I don't know how to solve right now is making you jump across the pf above if there is only one block in your way, so two or more blocks should punch you back. The problem with this is that you cannot place two pfread commands in one f statement, even if you create two values for the pfreads and compare only the values. The third thing is I used the p1 for the doctor because the kernel settings I done removes the missile0 (I will have to use it in the last battle) and the multispite kernel only works for p1 sprites, so the stages look a bit hollow, I know. You are the famous and misanderstood plague doctor of the middle ages, collecting herbs and at the end, duel a battle with Death itself. (That will be the only part of the game where you can use the projectile). A still have to manage scrolling the screen and putting there the other objects. Gameplay: Plague-Test.bin PlagueTest2.bin PlagueFinalNTSC 1.01.bas.bin PlagueFinalPAL50 1.01.bas.bin PlagueFinalPAL60 1.01.bas.bin PlagueFinalNTSC 1.01.bas PlagueFinalNTSC 1.02.bas.bin PlagueFinalPAL50 1.02.bas.bin PlagueFinalPAL60 1.02.bas.bin PlagueFinalNTSC 1.09.bas.bin PlagueFinalPAL60 1.09.bas.bin

Many A8 homebrew games have awesome packages so I started this thread. Oddly, I haven't found a photo of Yoomp! package on the Internet so I made a photo of mine (didn't remember a pencil was included...). I am a bit lazy so all photos (Yoomp! and Dungeon Hunt apart) are from Internet. I want to point out that the following games are available for free; you had to pay only if you wanted the boxed edition. Nevertheless, they sold many copies. Dimo's Quest (cart isn't available yet) Bomb Jake Yoomp! Hobgoblin Robbo Forever Dungeon Hunt Thetris-Rolltris Kolony 2106 Bomber

I thought I would list what inspired me to come up with this: -Rastan Saga -Gargoyle's Quest (The First two) -Zelda II: The Adventure of Link -Megami Tensei (The whole franchise.) -The Shadow of the Beast trilogy (Fantasy meets high-tech, surreal details, and many of the creatures.) -Ancient Mythology -Masters of the Universe (Fantasy meets high-tech) -Thundercats (Fantasy meets high-tech) -Steampunk (Most of the technology that does get displayed.) -The Curse of Issyos (and Locomalito and general) -Antiquity (Building and clothing aesthetics.) -Touhou Project A small list of the characters in The Demon Lands: -Megatherion (The Hero of The Agathodaimon) -King Agathion (Leader of Ul P'tak and the ruling Agathodaimon.) -Hedone* (Healer and friend of Megatherion.) *=In the Demonic Alphabet, her name is spelled "Headonea". This is due to the fact that 'ea' is the demonic equivalent of η. (Pronounced as [ā/eɪ]) -Alekto (The oldest of the three fury sisters. Often protective of her two sisters, but still willing to go on her own.) -Megaira (The second of the fury sisters, and known for being rather crude, even for demon standards.) -Tisiphone* (The youngest of these sisters, and the most daring of the three. Also known for being agile and quick-witted.) *=Written as "Tissipphonea."

New game for the Atari 7800 AND Atari VCS just been dug up. Rescue legendary explorers in A.R.T.I. by Muddyfunster, a modern re-imagining of H.E.R.O. for the Atari 2600. #atari #atarivcs #atari7800 #atari2600

Alright, it's that time again. Getting very close to having this thing done, and I'm posting a version I'm calling alpha 2. Build ID is Alpha 2, 6/17/2022, 256 bytes from the end of the file, as usual. This version is feature complete, but it's still missing a couple things and has a couple of known bugs. Here what's not in this build: Sound. I still only have the one door sound I stole from Intellidiscs. Title screen logo. Hope to have this in a few weeks. As mentioned before, there are some known bugs: The bonus points awarded for trapping cops aren't always right. Something's wrong with the code that counts the cops. While testing some other stuff, the game just completely spazzed out on me. I have no idea what caused this, but it seemed to happen shortly after I picked up a cash bag. This is a serious, game-breaking issue and is my top priority. I also might make some adjustments here and there. The game might be too hard at the higher levels. I may tone things down a bit. I've packed a few things into this game that I haven't really told anyone about yet, so let's see what you can find! Once I track down these last bugs, I'll probably do another release. robnbanks_a2.bin

Hi Everyone, I'm pleased to share the release of my game Yo-Yo Shuriken on Neo-Geo MVS, AES and CD formats. The game is a single-screen shooter with a unique twist: you are using a single shuriken that can be thrown, then recalled so you can hit enemies from the front and/or from behind. The game is even more fun with a friend, with a cooperative-competitive 2 players mode. You can get the game ROMS (MAME, ISO, NeoSD...) from here: https://drludos.itch.io/yo-yo-shuriken-neo-geo The game is also available in physical format for Neo-Geo CD from here (you'll receive the AES, MVS and CD ROMs for free when buying the physical release): https://cotegamers.com/shop/en/accueil/153-yoyo-shuriken.html And of course, patrons of the "free games" tier will also receive this game for free over Patreon, as usual: https://www.patreon.com/posts/free-games-yo-yo-81360856 Last but not least, here is the game running on my trusty old AES: I hope you'll enjoy it, and feel free to ask me any question! 🙂

Hey Guys: Just wanted to get out there that the game I did for the 7800 - 'Failsafe' - which is sort of a 'Countermeasure II', will be put in the VCS store (7800 section) tonight or tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to talk about this but I was given the green light. Thanks all! Bob

So, for some crazy reason I got the itch to try my hand at a 7800 game and Rob 'n' Banks, my recently completed port of Data East's Lock 'n' Chase to the 5200, seemed like a good candidate. So here I am following in the footsteps of Beef Drop and bringing another Data East arcade title to the 7800. I just started working on this and learning the details of the 7800, since this is the first time I've ever done anything for the console. I've got the basics figured out and today I put together an early version of the maze. (That crap on the left is the awesome a7800 performance monitor, and the square is the sprite that will eventually become the player) This is a pretty big step, since I now have both direct and indirect mode working, along with holey DMA. I'm still fighting with different ways of organizing this stuff, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. The is a very low-priority project. My (shamless plug) PC game projects and 5200 work have precedence, but I'll try to poke at this whenever I'm able and I'll post relevant news here.

The answer is yes!

Block Attack, very nice new game presented at Lost Party 2023, programmed with MadPascal. BlockAttack.zip

Overview The 7800GD and Mega7800 add some features to the 7800 which can be used by homebrew developers to add new features to their games. This post will go through the new features added and how you can make use of them in your native 7800 projects. Support for these features will also be added into 7800basic. Mega7800 The Mega7800 allows any MegaDrive / Genesis or Master System controller to be used with the 7800. This is largely transparent to the 7800 and will just appear as a normal 7800 controller, however it is possible to detect the presence of the Mega7800 and read all the buttons from the attached controller and use these in your games. To make sure the 7800GD doesn't also use the extended buttons your game uses, make sure to set the mega78001/2 flag on the ROM with the 7800header tool. This changes the way the 7800GD breaks into the game with the controller, allowing the game to have full access to the extended buttons but still allowing the 7800GD to exit to game selection. Sample code for using the Mega7800 directly in your ROM is available on GitHub at 7800GD-Homebrew. Support is being added to 7800basic as well. To add support for the Mega7800 you only need to include mega7800.s in your code, define space for JOYMODE, JOYDIR, JOYBTN0, JOYBTN1 and call Mega7800ReadControllers once per frame. The presence of the Mega7800 can then be detected through JOYMODE and the direction and button states read through JOYDIR and JOYBTN0/1. This also reads the state of standard controllers attached, so this can be a direct drop-in replacement for existing controller code. Audio Streaming To support the audio for Rikki and Vikki a streamed audio system is used. This uses stereo ADPCM encoded audio files stored in a folder alongside the game ROM (with the same name, but no extension) which are decoded and played by the cartridge with no overhead to the game. To allow homebrew developers to use this audio feature independently of the Souper mapper, I have added a streamed audio device which maps to $420 in memory, this can be added to your ROM with the adpcm@420 flag from the 7800header tool. You can encode any WAV file into a stream suitable for use with the 7800GD by using the 7800GDAudioEncode tool for which the source code and binary can be found on GitHub at 7800GD-AudioEncode. Sample code for using the audio streaming directly in your ROM is available on GitHub at 7800GD-Homebrew. Support is being added to 7800basic as well. To add support for audio streaming you just need to include AudioStream.s in your code, call AudioStreamReset to initialise and then the appropriate AudioStreamXXX functions as you need them. Audio files need to be named 0-31.bup and placed in a folder with the same name and in the same directory as the A78 file, the file corresponding to the number passed to AudioStreamPlayTrack will be played when called.