7800Lover Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I'm closing a deal right now to get a working Atari XE game system. While it should contain Missile Command, Flight Simulator II and Bug Hunt, I'm looking at some Atari 8-bit cartridges to get along with some XE games. There's quite a bit of overlap out there as some of the 8-bit cartridges are games I already own for the 2600 and 7800. So I'll throw this question out to you Atari 8-bit enthusiasts. What are some good Atari 8-bit cartridges to get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stage_1_Boss Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Definitely Miner 2049er, I also like Caverns of Mars, just to name a couple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 About all of them.... And with all respect but IMHO each title for the 2600 is insanely much better on the A8. Maybe not on the 7800 but I can't stand TIA sound when you're used to POKEY. Donkey Kong is a must have. Jr. is great too. Blallblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, Blue Max, River Raid,......the list sim endless....almost.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) I'm closing a deal right now to get a working Atari XE game system. While it should contain Missile Command, Flight Simulator II and Bug Hunt, I'm looking at some Atari 8-bit cartridges to get along with some XE games. There's quite a bit of overlap out there as some of the 8-bit cartridges are games I already own for the 2600 and 7800. So I'll throw this question out to you Atari 8-bit enthusiasts. What are some good Atari 8-bit cartridges to get? Get a Atarimax 'APE' interface and RS232 to USB cable and SIO cable. Then you can attach your 130XE to your desktop/laptop computer and have just about every game ever made at your fingertips. APE/SIO2PC for USA, Respeqt for Euro. Either one actually. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98 Euro maybe http://www.atarimax.com for USA Oh, PACMAN is my favorite game cart. B&C computervisions is one site. http://www.myatari.com Edited October 7, 2017 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunter44102 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Get a Atarimax 'APE' interface and RS232 to USB cable and SIO cable. Then you can attach your 130XE to your desktop/laptop computer and have just about every game ever made at your fingertips. APE/SIO2PC for USA, Respeqt for Euro. Either one actually. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98 Euro maybe http://www.atarimax.com for USA Oh, PACMAN is my favorite game cart. B&C computervisions is one site. http://www.myatari.com If you connect APE through SIO, then this isn't a CART replacment. Wouldn't you be playing converted and EXE games? He's better off getting a Multi-cart with ROMS I would think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 If you connect APE through SIO, then this isn't a CART replacment. Wouldn't you be playing converted and EXE games? He's better off getting a Multi-cart with ROMS I would think I have a 1 mbyte Atarimax flashcart. I don''t remember anything about it. I think you can burn .obj/exe.com executables to it and get a menu when you insert it. The advantage is you don't have to have anything else to run your programs. A APE/SIO2PC/RESPEQT requires cables and a host PC to play .exe/.com/.obj files. So, if you only want a few games/ utilities, a flashcart woud be handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Star Raiders, the only acknowledged 'killer-app' for home computers. People saw the 3D Starfield running on the A8, and purchased the computer and the game just to play it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I had that with Donkey Kong. For me _that_ was the killer app to get a 600XL.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Get a Atarimax 'APE' interface and RS232 to USB cable and SIO cable. Then you can attach your 130XE to your desktop/laptop computer and have just about every game ever made at your fingertips. APE/SIO2PC for USA, Respeqt for Euro. Either one actually. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98 Euro maybe http://www.atarimax.com for USA Oh, PACMAN is my favorite game cart. B&C computervisions is one site. http://www.myatari.com Agree with this...but your only version of. 'Pac-Man' on the A8 should be 'Pac-Man Arcade'. All Atari releases, from 1979 to the unreleased protos (exceptions 'Mean 18' and 'Jinks') are good-to-great. If I had to pick the standouts of the Time-Warner era, though, my choices would be Defender, Joust, and Robotron: they're all stellar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 If you are mostly interested in playing games rather than the collecting aspect of owning cartridges, I would really recommend checking out a UNO Cart or an Ultimate Cartridge. Then you would be able to play more than 90% of the games ever released for the 800/XL/XE line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Get a Atarimax 'APE' interface and RS232 to USB cable and SIO cable. Then you can attach your 130XE to your desktop/laptop computer and have just about every game ever made at your fingertips. APE/SIO2PC for USA, Respeqt for Euro. Either one actually. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98 Euro maybe http://www.atarimax.com for USA Oh, PACMAN is my favorite game cart. B&C computervisions is one site. http://www.myatari.com Is that a better solution than the other products they sell? I have been trying to decide on this vs the carts etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Is that a better solution than the other products they sell? I have been trying to decide on this vs the carts etc. My thought is that if you have an Ultimate Cart and a SIO2SD then you'll be able to run like 98-99% of the software and games ever written for the A8 line. Plus, you will not have to be tethered to another device and software like with the SIO2PC cable. If you either don't want or cannot afford two devices, however, your best bet would probably be a UNO Cart. The Uno Cart will run all CAR/ROM images <128k, most XEX files, and a majority of ATR disk images a well. Plus it can reasonably emulate a D1 floppy drive in order to transfer files from a real disk drive. You won't be able to run quite everything with a UNO Cart but I'd bet that it can handle something like 90-95% of A8 software and games. Edited October 7, 2017 by SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 The issue is not money. Are these available now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Is that a better solution than the other products they sell? I have been trying to decide on this vs the carts etc. I'm thinking my APE/Reseqt solution is old and cumbersome. The UNO cart sounds great, along with a SIO2SD as better alternatives. You wouldn't be tied to a PC with those. I'm not familiar with the UNO cart, but it sounds good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 The issue is not money. Are these available now? You can get a fully assembled SIO2SD from Lotharek. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=189 He also sells them via eBay. AtariAge user MacRorie sells both the UNO Cart and the Ultimate Cartridge. He has UNO Carts on hand right now and is taking pre-orders for a new batch of Ultimate Cartridges which he hopes to have ready for sale sometime in October. You can find more details in this thread : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/262337-ultimate-atari-cart-electrotrains-pre-order-by-18-apr-17/page-8 MacRorie also sells UNO Carts via eBay : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-XL-XE-UNOCart-Cartridge-microSD-card-for-loading-ATR-ROM-CAR-XEX-/282582673793?hash=item41cb3d6981:g:sdQAAOSw-ddZc7Uu Both Lotharek and MacRorie are highly trustworthy and respected members of the Atari community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I'm not familiar with the UNO cart, but it sounds good. The UNO Cart is seriously the best thing that I have gotten for my 800XL in 30 years. I have spent the better part of the past 3 months playing around with it and adding new games to the microSD card. I am also thinking about getting a SIO2SD and an Ultimate Cartridge for completion but the UNO Cart really does do almost everything that I would ever want. Be aware, however, that the UNO Cart is only compatible with XL/XE machines and you need at least 64K in order to use ATR files with it. The Ultimate cart will work with all 400/800/XL/XE systems but some specific games and/or files themselves have higher RAM requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 You can get a fully assembled SIO2SD from Lotharek. http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=189 He also sells them via eBay. AtariAge user MacRorie sells both the UNO Cart and the Ultimate Cartridge. He has UNO Carts on hand right now and is taking pre-orders for a new batch of Ultimate Cartridges which he hopes to have ready for sale sometime in October. You can find more details in this thread : http://atariage.com/forums/topic/262337-ultimate-atari-cart-electrotrains-pre-order-by-18-apr-17/page-8 MacRorie also sells UNO Carts via eBay : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-XL-XE-UNOCart-Cartridge-microSD-card-for-loading-ATR-ROM-CAR-XEX-/282582673793?hash=item41cb3d6981:g:sdQAAOSw-ddZc7Uu Both Lotharek and MacRorie are highly trustworthy and respected members of the Atari community. Man. I owe you. Thank you so much. I was going to buy something from Atarimax, but was confused what to get. Blah. Wife will be upset. More money spent and less time with her. Game on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 (edited) Any of these would be excellent additions to your collection.. :-) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/245945-loose-8-bit-carts-for-sale-or-trade-for-994a-carts/?fromsearch=1 Seriously... Blue Max, Donkey Kong, Deluxe Invaders, Galaxian, Star Raiders are all very good. Edited October 8, 2017 by adam242 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Mountain King is a good one. Always enjoyed the creepy atmosphere. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8isa1 Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Star Raiders was already mentioned. Parker Brothers Frogger is one of my standby games. Quick action and even after long drouts from play you never feel rusty at Frogger. I'm probably in the minorty but I prefer PB Frogger over the Datasoft one. I was never very good at Gyruss but it was fun all the same and seemed like a decent arcade game port to A8. I don't know if Boulder Dash was ever released on cartridge but I recommend it anyway. I second Rescue on Fractalus. Make sure you play it late at night when the house is quiet and dark. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Both Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I second Rescue on Fractalus. Make sure you play it late at night when the house is quiet and dark.Yes ! And turn the volume up.... And start with level 6 Stefan 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 I just may get Rescue on Fractalus. And I am well aware of the whole "scare" thing with the aliens disguised as pilots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 All four Lucasfilm games are great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Nut Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 The Atarimax MyIDE-II. https://www.atarimax.com/myide/documentation/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 (edited) I'm closing a deal right now to get a working Atari XE game system. While it should contain Missile Command, Flight Simulator II and Bug Hunt, I'm looking at some Atari 8-bit cartridges to get along with some XE games. There's quite a bit of overlap out there as some of the 8-bit cartridges are games I already own for the 2600 and 7800. So I'll throw this question out to you Atari 8-bit enthusiasts. What are some good Atari 8-bit cartridges to get? Did you try contacting Video61 (Lance) at www.atarisales.com? He has many original un-opened cartridges for the Atari 8-bit (works with XEGS) The games I had been personally involved with include Tempest, Venture, Laser Blast X, Delta Space Arena, Megaoids. We are getting ready to release Helicommader, Putt 18, and Tile Smashers. Edited October 9, 2017 by peteym5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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