What's the difference between Missile Command arcade hardware...

[MaximRecoil]

... and Atari 8-bit computer (including the Atari 5200) hardware? Arcade Missile Command uses a 6502 CPU and a Pokey for sound. It has eight 4116 chips which I believe = 16 KB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong). So, a 6502, a Pokey, and 16 KB of RAM sounds a lot like the Atari 5200 doesn't it? The total ROM size of the arcade game is 12 KB, which is well within the 32 KB ROM size allowed for 5200 cartridges.

 

So the question is, why couldn't the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer versions of Missile Command have been exact, or essentially exact copies of the arcade version?

[+Stephen]

... and Atari 8-bit computer (including the Atari 5200) hardware? Arcade Missile Command uses a 6502 CPU and a Pokey for sound. It has eight 4116 chips which I believe = 16 KB of RAM (correct me if I'm wrong). So, a 6502, a Pokey, and 16 KB of RAM sounds a lot like the Atari 5200 doesn't it? The total ROM size of the arcade game is 12 KB, which is well within the 32 KB ROM size allowed for 5200 cartridges.

 

So the question is, why couldn't the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer versions of Missile Command have been exact, or essentially exact copies of the arcade version?

Laziness and the fact that Atari computer division was separate from the arcade games division. The two didn't get along all that well from what I've read.

 

Stephen Anderson

[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

Edited August 27, 2009 by tjb

[Bryan]

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/driverinfo/missile.c

http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/missile%20command%20tech.html

 

These pages have memory maps and explain the hardware a bit.

[etschuetz]

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/driverinfo/missile.c

http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/missile%20command%20tech.html

 

These pages have memory maps and explain the hardware a bit.

 

I am a technically bright person, but those tech sheets were greek to even me!

[MaximRecoil]

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/driverinfo/missile.c

http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/missile%20command%20tech.html

 

These pages have memory maps and explain the hardware a bit.

 

I am a technically bright person, but those tech sheets were greek to even me!

 

Same here. If someone could put that into layman's terms it would be great.

 

Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

[+Philsan]

Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

Missile Command +

Edited August 27, 2009 by Philsan

[+CharlieChaplin]

ooops,

 

Philsan was faster than me... -Andreas Koch.

Edited August 27, 2009 by CharlieChaplin

[MaximRecoil]

Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

Missile Command +

 

Wow, I'd like to try that. The problem is, I haven't had any luck with 5200 emulators (which I think are the same as Atari 8-bit emulators?). In some emulators I've gotten the game to come up but I either can't start the game or can't get the mouse input to work. Any suggestions? (I'm using Windows XP)

Edited August 27, 2009 by MaximRecoil

[Bryan]

Same here. If someone could put that into layman's terms it would be great.

 

They tell you how much memory is on the board, what it's for, and where all the switches and IO are mapped. Basically, it's very different than an A8.

 

Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

 

Missile command is not a very demanding game. The cartridge version was designed for minimal hardware requirements, but it could be done much better.

[etschuetz]

Also; question for those who understand the 8-bit/5200 hardware a lot better than I do: if an exact copy of arcade Missile Command can't be done, is there any room for improvement on the existing version? For example, 3 firing bases instead of one?

Missile Command +

 

Wow, I'd like to try that. The problem is, I haven't had any luck with 5200 emulators (which I think are the same as Atari 8-bit emulators?). In some emulators I've gotten the game to come up but I either can't start the game or can't get the mouse input to work. Any suggestions? (I'm using Windows XP)

Try Kat5200. As much as I love it, you may too. It supports 5200 and various 8-bits computers from Atari. I only wanted 8bit emulation to play the games, not to completely emulate the computer...that program does it for me.

[Kurt_Woloch]

OK, here are some hardware specs in clear terms:

 

- The game is fully bitmapped, basically it's able to display 8 colors, BUT only in the lower 32 scanlines, the lines above that only support 4 colors! Anyway, that's how the cities have different colors than the rest of the screen.

- There are no sprites (or players / missiles) whatsoever (and I think one color is constantly cycling - that's the color of the explosions)

- The display is basically 256 pixels wide, which is more than the 160 which are possible on an Atari 8-bit in multicolor mode.

- The CPU clock is different... it's only 1.17 MHz, and even gets halved during the lower 32 scanlines of the screen. (OK, this is actually an ADVANTAGE for the 8-bit / 5200, which is considerably faster than that!)

- The ROM size is also bigger... it's 12K vs. the 8K of the 8-bit cartridge version.

 

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/driverinfo/missile.c

http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/missile%20command%20tech.html

 

These pages have memory maps and explain the hardware a bit.

 

I am a technically bright person, but those tech sheets were greek to even me!

[Rybags]

The A8 (and probably 5200) version is actually only 6K.

 

The bottom 2K of the ROM space is just zeros.

 

The "lacklustre" computer version is probably more a reflection of the limitations imposed by the rediculous single-button joystick standard than a hardware downfall of the computer itself.