How would A8 scene be different

[Scooter83]

If it was popular as atari2600 or nes or snes? What changes would we see in the hobby? Would ebay prices on carts be more realistic on some carts? Would some be higher? Any examples come to mind?

 

Will A8 ever gain popularity to the level of a2600 a5200 a7800 ? What keeps gamers from collecting and gaming? What would need to change to for this area to grow or is it destined to be second fiddle?

 

Just crossed my mind and thought these questions would bring along good convocation.

[Bryan]

The retro hobby is mostly made up of people who had the system back in the day (nostalgia), with a smaller percentage of people who are new to the platform. My gut feeling is that people who didn't own the system in the past tend to collect more than actively use. So, I don't ever expect the community to get much bigger. We're just the crazy ones who devote our precious time to old stuff.

[+davidcalgary29]

There's lots of activity in the A8 forum.

 

Try to check out ABBUC if you haven't already done this. They publish a quarterly newsletter (with floppy disk!) and have assisted with the development of some truly great stuff over the past few decades. You should also take a look at some of the demos and games that have been coded in the last few years -- they're truly amazing!

[MrFish]

Will A8 ever gain popularity to the level of a2600 a5200 a7800 ?

 

a5200 and a7800? I'm gonna say the 8-Bits are more popular than those two combined. Just look at the number of topics and posts on AA as a comparison.

[famicommander]

Just from personal experience, the reason A8 was the last Atari system for me to get into is because of the computer aspect of it. I don't want to deal with floppy drives or tape drives, I don't want to learn how to use an ancient OS (I'm a modern Linux guy) just to play games, I don't want to dedicate the space that an 8 bit computer requires as opposed to a 2600. The barriers to entry on 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, and JagCD were all much lower than on the A8.

 

 

As the OP is well aware, I finally did get an XEGS which mitigates some of the above concerns. I still think I'm going to limit myself to collecting carts, though. No floppies for me.

 

It's the same exact reasoning that has kept me away from Commodore 64 my whole life.

Edited December 18, 2013 by famicommander

[Scooter83]

I know when shopping around off eBay I see much more for sale on sites like Craigslist along the lines of a5200 a7800 even commodore. I guess more people relate to C64.

 

I guess I'm hypothetical about the hat ifs when saying if a8 was like the a2600 scene. Comparing 334 cart titles compared to what was released for the a2600

 

 

[Bryan]

I know when shopping around off eBay I see much more for sale on sites like Craigslist along the lines of a5200 a7800 even commodore. I guess more people relate to C64.

 

I guess I'm hypothetical about the hat ifs when saying if a8 was like the a2600 scene. Comparing 334 cart titles compared to what was released for the a2600

Well, the C64 hit critical mass where it was suddenly OK to buy a home computer because you probably knew several people who had one. Atari could have gotten there, but that's another story...

 

You can't just count cart titles because it wasn't just a cart system. The disk and tape library is huge.

[MrFish]

I know when shopping around off eBay I see much more for sale on sites like Craigslist along the lines of a5200 a7800 even commodore.

 

OK, more people want to get rid of their 5200's and 7800's, and 8-Bit owners are hoarders.

Edited December 18, 2013 by MrFish

[Scooter83]

OK, more people want to get rid of their 5200's and 7800's, and 8-Bit owners are hoarders.

I believe that.

 

True about the massive cassette and disk library. I've been skiddish ave disks. But should re adventure in again.

[JamesD]

Ignoring the fact that the 5200 and 7800 weren't as popular as the 8 bit computers...
As popular as the 2600? You are talking about something that sold 25+ million more machines or 6 times what the 8 bit sold.

[AtariLeaf]

 

OK, more people want to get rid of their 5200's and 7800's, and 8-Bit owners are hoarders.

 

Coco owners are like that too

Edited December 18, 2013 by AtariLeaf

[snicklin]

If it was popular as atari2600 or nes or snes? What changes would we see in the hobby? Would ebay prices on carts be more realistic on some carts? Would some be higher? Any examples come to mind?

 

Will A8 ever gain popularity to the level of a2600 a5200 a7800 ? What keeps gamers from collecting and gaming? What would need to change to for this area to grow or is it destined to be second fiddle?

 

Just crossed my mind and thought these questions would bring along good convocation.

 

I don't think that we'll find the popularity of the 2600, a lot of people say "I had an Atari computer", so you ask which one and they say "It had Pac-Man and it had those things that you turn to play Pong". Most people see Atari as the 2600. I would debate that we're more popular than the 5200 and 7800, though maybe not in the United States, but everywhere else.

 

I think I've only seen a 5200 once and a 7800 a few times at shows.

[BillC]

I believe that.

 

True about the massive cassette and disk library. I've been skiddish ave disks. But should re adventure in again.

You don't need a floppy drive to use disc based software, you can get an SDrive/SIO2SD/SIO2PC and use ATR images. There are flash cartidges which can also be used with ATRs.

[MrFish]

Popularity doesn't only carry with it positive attributes. For instance, big cities are more popular than smaller cities, towns, villages. Are they necessarily better off? Is music by popular bands necessarily better than music done by moderate, or even near zero popularity bands?

[+davidcalgary29]

 

Just from personal experience, the reason A8 was the last Atari system for me to get into is because of the computer aspect of it. I don't want to deal with floppy drives or tape drives, I don't want to learn how to use an ancient OS (I'm a modern Linux guy) just to play games, I don't want to dedicate the space that an 8 bit computer requires as opposed to a 2600. The barriers to entry on 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, and JagCD were all much lower than on the A8.

 

 

As the OP is well aware, I finally did get an XEGS which mitigates some of the above concerns. I still think I'm going to limit myself to collecting carts, though. No floppies for me.

 

It's the same exact reasoning that has kept me away from Commodore 64 my whole life.

Get an SD drive (or one of the SIO devices that BillC listed) instead. I hadn't used my modded 800XL for something like five years before I picked one up from Lotharek; it gave new life to my system and I again use it regularly.

[MrFish]

You don't need a floppy drive to use disc based software, you can get an SDrive/SIO2SD/SIO2PC and use ATR images. There are flash cartidges which can also be used with ATRs.

 

Get an SD drive (or one of the SIO devices that BillC listed) instead. I hadn't used my modded 800XL for something like five years before I picked one up from Lotharek; it gave new life to my system and I again use it regularly.

 

SIDE I/II is great too, and less cumbersome for those who like to move their setups around.

[Marius]

I can understand people think in a first thought: I stick to cart games. But like others said... The a8 has SO MUCH to offer, which is available on internet as file or disk image ... You can play this without disk drive but with a small device. That is really worth it and as portable as possible.

 

For me there are only three popular Atari machines:

 

The atari 8bit (my absolute favorite)

The atari 2600 (still going strong, great console with some excellent games)

The atari 7800, which has serious potential, but unfortunately not enough titles ...

 

But as said: atari 8bit is your friend. I use mainly a stock 800xl and a pal atari 800 48k OSB machine. Two great friends, who do not let me down ever!

[kenjennings]

Comparing 334 cart titles compared to what was released for the a2600

92.7% of the titles released on the 2600 are known to be total cow manure. That leaves about 332 at least half-way decent games on the 2600. :-)

[MrFish]

92.7% of the titles released on the 2600 are known to be total cow manure. That leaves about 332 at least half-way decent games on the 2600. :-)

 

Yes, quantity versus quality. In fairness there's plenty of manure available on the 8-Bits.

 

One thing to note about current 2600 development is that the manure level is pretty low on the homebrew front. There are some pretty fantastic titles being produced.

[famicommander]

 

 

Get an SD drive (or one of the SIO devices that BillC listed) instead. I hadn't used my modded 800XL for something like five years before I picked one up from Lotharek; it gave new life to my system and I again use it regularly.

Maybe some day in the future, when I've exhausted the library of carts I want to play.

 

I have literally dozens of systems ready to play at my house, including every Nintendo/Atari/SEGA/SNK/Sony/Microsoft console and handheld (except PS4/XB1 but including 3DS, Vita, Wii U), among many others. My backlog is probably larger than most peoples' entire collections, and I do intend to play them all eventually. I'm in no rush to acquire more, because I'll probably be in my 70s before I get through everything I've already got.

[+davidcalgary29]

Maybe some day in the future, when I've exhausted the library of carts I want to play.

 

I have literally dozens of systems ready to play at my house, including every Nintendo/Atari/SEGA/SNK/Sony/Microsoft console and handheld (except PS4/XB1 but including 3DS, Vita, Wii U), among many others. My backlog is probably larger than most peoples' entire collections, and I do intend to play them all eventually. I'm in no rush to acquire more, because I'll probably be in my 70s before I get through everything I've already got.

 

Fair enough! You should be aware, though, that many cartridge releases are the weakest games on the A8 and should not be taken as a general measure of the overall quality of the gaming library. The exceptions to this rule are, of course, the titles that Atari specifically released for the XEGS. Many of those titles are excellent games and titles you should definitely try out.

[famicommander]

 

Fair enough! You should be aware, though, that many cartridge releases are the weakest games on the A8 and should not be taken as a general measure of the overall quality of the gaming library. The exceptions to this rule are, of course, the titles that Atari specifically released for the XEGS. Many of those titles are excellent games and titles you should definitely try out.

I wouldn't have bought the system if I didn't think it had enough interesting games to justify the cost. You're talking to a guy who plays and enjoys his N-Gage QD, CD-i, 3DO, Jaguar CD, and 32X. All it takes is a few awesome games you can't find elsewhere and I'm in.

[+davidcalgary29]

[My power shut off before I could add to the rest of the post.]

 

The only thing that I can add is that, sadly, the XEGS Atari carts are now difficult to find and therefore expensive to collect. Crystal Castles is an excellent game, but impossible to find at a decent price; MIDI Maze is just an amazing title but it never had an official release, and you'll have to collect it as a repro-proto. The same thing can be said for Commando, Deflektor, and Xenophobe, as these titles show that the A8, when properly coded, was pretty competitive with the other popular systems in the late '80s. Buy three or four of these carts, though, and you're into an expense around $150-$200, and that's double the amount you'd pay for one of the new drives. This huge expense is really the reason why most people choose one of the drive options first these days.

[AtariLeaf]

[My power shut off before I could add to the rest of the post.]

 

The only thing that I can add is that, sadly, the XEGS Atari carts are now difficult to find and therefore expensive to collect. Crystal Castles is an excellent game, but impossible to find at a decent price; MIDI Maze is just an amazing title but it never had an official release, and you'll have to collect it as a repro-proto. The same thing can be said for Commando, Deflektor, and Xenophobe, as these titles show that the A8, when properly coded, was pretty competitive with the other popular systems in the late '80s. Buy three or four of these carts, though, and you're into an expense around $150-$200, and that's double the amount you'd pay for one of the new drives. This huge expense is really the reason why most people choose one of the drive options first these days.

I would add Mario Bros. XE to your list. They are hard to find and pricey. Took me years to find one and it was thanks to another AA user. It's an excellent port.

[Marius]

Indeed lots of great titles on cart. Millipede is my all time favorite #1. Although there is a bug on PAL systems (there is a fix available)

 

But as said: except for great xegs carts, the best titles are not on cart.