Top 100 Games for Atari 8-bit video

[subjugator]

Posted my top 100 Atari 8-bit games video on YouTube in 1080p, with CRT screen emulation through CRT-royale shader

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6PZJAusFY&t=3s

 

[+Stephen]

Posted my top 100 Atari 8-bit games video on YouTube in 1080p, with CRT screen emulation through CRT-royale shader

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6PZJAusFY&t=3s

 

Sweet. What emulator are you using? I am unfamiliar with shaders such as this.

[solaris104]

Bruce Lee is missing :-)

[Rybags]

With such things it's nice to have them listed in the description text. I assume you've just put them in no particular rank order?

[JCat]

Great work! A few mediocre titles made it in, yet no Centipede or Millipede? No Necromancer? ...thats one of the top 5 of all time in my opinion. Oh, and the original Star Raiders? The was Ataris system seller, the killer app if you will.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Yep, I like approx. 80% of the shown titles, but there are a few good ones missing, while some boring or much too hard titles are shown (e.g. Alien Ambush, Last Guardian, etc.).

 

Looks like most of your favourite games are arcade, platform, jump and run, racing, martial arts and shoot-em-ups. Counted only one adventure (Stranded), one sports game (Decathlon) and one RPG (Ali Baba). But therefore even a german type-in listing (Submission) and two unfinished / not finishable games (Montezuma's Revenge and IK+) made it into your TOP 100.

 

My list would be quite similar, but instead of the Martial Arts games I would throw in some puzzle / brain / thinking games and probably some more arcade (e.g. Millipede), platform (e.g. Mouse Trap / Mouse Quest), jump and run (e.g. Bruce Lee, Montezuma 16k which can be finished instead of Montezuma 48k which cannot be finished) and shoot-em-up games (e.g. Bosconian, Time Pilot). And allthough I do not play it often, Star Raiders must be in an A8 Top 100.

 

Me, not much love for (huge) RPG's, Adventures, Martial Arts, Beat-Em-Ups, Two-Players only, 3D/Pseudo-3D, Iso-3D, historical Simulation, machine Simulation, extremely hard, extremely repetitive games. And ermm, in 99% I only play alone on the Atari 8Bit, so two-player only or multi-player games (e.g. M.U.L.E.) are rarely played, if at all.

Edited December 30, 2018 by CharlieChaplin

[Gunstar]

I find it baffling that one would go through the trouble of emulating CRT scan lines. I was devastated when my 1084 CRT monitor went belly-up because I thought LCD screens wouldn't look good. But I found I much prefer the LCD images with no scan lines at all and going back to scan lines on my 1084 when I repair it seems like a real down grade. I completely understand preferring CRT to modern choices for vintage gaming, but only with the real thing, emulation of CRT seems ridiculous and pointless to me...but then emulation at all as a first, best choice seems ridiculous and pointless to me too, I need the REAL HARDWARE!

Edited December 30, 2018 by Gunstar

[Mclaneinc]

That looks like MESS as an emulator...

 

I'd most certainly swap to Altirra for video's as the comparability is way higher which reflects on imperfections on the odd game shown. Also the movie side of Altirra is pretty full on considering Phaeron is also the author of Videodub, one (if not the most used) of the most used free softwares for video processing.

 

As for the content, same from me, a few obvious missing ones but as its all personal then really about what you like the most (but not liking Bruce Lee is a CRIME I say )

Edited December 30, 2018 by Mclaneinc

[Mclaneinc]

I find it baffling that one would go through the trouble of emulating CRT scan lines. I was devastated when my 1084 CRT monitor went belly-up because I thought LCD screens wouldn't look good. But I found I much prefer the LCD images with no scan lines at all and going back to scan lines on my 1084 when I repair it seems like a real down grade. I completely understand preferring CRT to modern choices for vintage gaming, but only with the real thing, emulation of CRT seems ridiculous and pointless to me...but then emulation at all as a first, best choice seems ridiculous and pointless to me too, I need the REAL HARDWARE!

 

I was initially not a fan of scanlines on emulation, when I used a emulator that forced them on you I was less keen to play it but I've mellowed and I'm always a fan of a softer more TV like image as its perfect for the remembering of how I saw it all back then. I don't use my Atari seriously any more, its for games and beta testing, I like the features in Altirra that support my CRT craving and some times I add scanlines in the faintest sense for a little extra thing...

 

But that's where I am different, most people want a brighter cleaner display where text looks crisp and clear.....Me, not so

[Mr Robot]

That's retroarch using the atari800 core, probably running in a retropie setup. CRT-Royle is an advanced shader and the Raspberry Pi is underpowered when using it so hopefully the OP used a decent PC setup to record this or the frame rate would not be optimal. The video encode and youtube have done a good job mangling the source video, the original source would have looked a lot nicer, a 4K source would have looked nicer still.

 

The only shader effects I've seen that look as good as CRT-Royale is the HLSL/BGFX shader engine in MAME. See this for an example

 

People argue against the idea of shaders but those people are wrong. Game developers developed for CRT's, they took advantage of the limitations/blurriness/softness of the display to actually improve the way the games looked, if you run an emulator and keep the raw pixel display because it's sharper you loose a lot of that stuff, it's less correct without the deformations.

 

There is another group of people who use shaders to try and upscale the display, smooth the lines and make the output more sharp/modern. These people are evil and should be locked in a box and be pelted with sticky buns until they change their ways.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Mr Robot

[Gunstar]

That's retroarch using the atari800 core, probably running in a retropie setup. CRT-Royle is an advanced shader and the Raspberry Pi is underpowered when using it so hopefully the OP used a decent PC setup to record this or the frame rate would not be optimal. The video encode and youtube have done a good job mangling the source video, the original source would have looked a lot nicer, a 4K source would have looked nicer still.

 

The only shader effects I've seen that look as good as CRT-Royale is the HLSL/BGFX shader engine in MAME. See this for an example

 

People argue against the idea of shaders but those people are wrong. Game developers developed for CRT's, they took advantage of the limitations/blurriness/softness of the display to actually improve the way the games looked, if you run an emulator and keep the raw pixel display because it's sharper you loose a lot of that stuff, it's less correct without the deformations.

 

There is another group of people who use shaders to try and upscale the display, smooth the lines and make the output more sharp/modern. These people are evil and should be locked in a box and be pelted with sticky buns until they change their ways.

Well, luckily I have more than one Atari, and one is connected to LCD for as sharp a display as my upgraded S-video to VGA converter can do, and I don't miss the scan lines at all, but I also have an 800 hooked up to a 19" CRT because it won't display in color on the cheap LCD screens I have anyway. So I have the best of both worlds without further video emulation. Like I said, I understand vintage gaming on CRT's (as long as it's real CRT with real scan-lines) but for text and doing my Atari graphic art, the sharpest display (LCD) is what I want to work with, I can always look at the art on CRT when I'm done, but the sharpness of LCD helps me see the fine details of my graphic art better.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Gunstar

[subjugator]

Holy crap - I did not expect to see so many replies - I know i am late to the party but I completely forgot I posted this here  

 

thanks to to everyone who responded - let me start of by saying that Bruce Lee was missed by mistake - it is indeed one of my favourites and was only omitted through my negligence, the video was captured using retro arch, Atari800 core and a variation of crt-royale shader on an i7-8700 with GeForce 1070

[Forrest]

Why weren't the in-game sounds/music used in the video? This is a big part of the gaming experience.

[Mclaneinc]

Yeah, shame about the lack of in game but I still think its an A for effort...To be honest many people do exactly the same and give the video a soundtrack rather than actual sound.

 

Didn't notice the missing Bruce Lee and its a fave of mine so I must have been enjoying the video a lot to not notice

[subjugator]

7 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Yeah, shame about the lack of in game but I still think its an A for effort...To be honest many people do exactly the same and give the video a soundtrack rather than actual sound.

 

Didn't notice the missing Bruce Lee and its a fave of mine so I must have been enjoying the video a lot to not notice

Yeah I can't believe I missed Bruce Lee - one of my all time favorites. I know I had the footage, must have missed it at the compositing stage.

 

As for using the original sounds - it's a question of preference, while I enjoy the original game sounds, I find that medleys comprised of short 6-8 second clips tend to sound cacophonous. Besides the soundtracks used in the video are some of the best Atari scene has to offer

[Mclaneinc]

Hey, we appreciate the time taken, 100 captures, all edited nicely with a super soundtrack of Atari goodness...Its all good.....Naughty step for Bruce Lee tho..

 

Also, I love these vids as they often show a game you meant to play but had forgotten, its the not so famous titles that are dead playable that we tend to forget a little so video's that cover loads of titles usually have some great reminders..

 

 

[subjugator]

On 7/4/2019 at 5:48 AM, Mclaneinc said:

Hey, we appreciate the time taken, 100 captures, all edited nicely with a super soundtrack of Atari goodness...Its all good.....Naughty step for Bruce Lee tho..

 

Also, I love these vids as they often show a game you meant to play but had forgotten, its the not so famous titles that are dead playable that we tend to forget a little so video's that cover loads of titles usually have some great reminders..

 

 

Ok, I’ve been shamed enough  - 4K footage of Bruce Lee has now been uploaded and Linked in the description of the original video. With original sounds too  

[Jetboot Jack]

On 7/3/2019 at 6:26 PM, subjugator said:

Holy crap - I did not expect to see so many replies - I know i am late to the party but I completely forgot I posted this here  

 

thanks to to everyone who responded - let me start of by saying that Bruce Lee was missed by mistake - it is indeed one of my favourites and was only omitted through my negligence, the video was captured using retro arch, Atari800 core and a variation of crt-royale shader on an i7-8700 with GeForce 1070

I found the Atari800 RetroArch core (on Pi/PC and Mac) to have horrific audio issues - that said I had not tried it in the latest releases of RetroArch - is it any better?

 

sTeVE

Edited July 5, 2019 by Jetboot Jack

[subjugator]

1 hour ago, Jetboot Jack said:

I found the Atari800 RetroArch core (on Pi/PC and Mac) to have horrific audio issues - that said I had not tried it in the latest releases of RetroArch - is it any better?

 

sTeVE

Sounds fine to me - the track that you hear in the video was recorded using Retro Arch

[Mclaneinc]

One word apart from these other words.....Altirra.....

[subjugator]

1 hour ago, Mclaneinc said:

One word apart from these other words.....Altirra.....

I love Altirra and I know it’s the most accurate one out there - but until it supports retroarch shaders such as crt-royale it’s a no-go for me - as the CRT effect is just too good to pass up

[Mclaneinc]

If you mean screen curve and scanlines then it already does...Under view look for screen effects (needs a pretty up to date beta as its a new addition)

[Jetboot Jack]

Altirra is a great emulator, just not a great one to use behind graphical front ends IMHO - I find it likes to occasionally wig out and drop out of fullscreen on a whim ?

 

I use Atari800 on PC and Mac behind Launchbox and Attract Mode or Pegasus it's very reliable. It's also very easy to customize controls etc. But I do use Altirra on my Launchbox PC for one game - Space Harrier, it needs the blended frames feature to look good.

 

And if you are into shaders - and I am not so it does not color my opinion - there is no comparison with the features of RetroArch compared to Altirra's offering.

 

So horses for courses, sat at a PC Altirra is great ?

[Jetboot Jack]

5 hours ago, subjugator said:

Sounds fine to me - the track that you hear in the video was recorded using Retro Arch

I've just gone back to the core in the latest version of RetroArch - it still has issues with sound, some games just sound wrong or have glitches/interference in the sound. It resets if you toggle the audio to 48K and the back to 44K, but when you next boot the core the audio issue is back - this is on Mac and PC (2 different machines), so not a hardware issue my end AFAIK. It also likes to crash if you fiddle with too many settings and the real deal breaker is it does not support extend memory properly ?

 

I also remembered why I like standalone Atari800 - you can setup a much more flexible input bind and then use keypadder to setup the left and right analogue sticks on a single controller to be two separate joysticks and play Space Dungeon and Robotron properly!

 

sTeVE

[subjugator]

3 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

If you mean screen curve and scanlines then it already does...Under view look for screen effects (needs a pretty up to date beta as its a new addition)

 

 

Altirra 3.2 Test 27 with simulated bi-cubic filtering, bloom and scanlines on the left vs. Retro Arch 1.7.5 with "crt-royale-ntsc-320px-composite.cgp" CG shader preset on the right on a 4K screen. Much as I love Altirra and respect its accuracy and attention to detail, the pic on the right still looks more like the real thing, thanks to the 14 pass, complex shader. Certain effects, such as shadowmask, are nearly impossible to accurately simulate without complex pixel shaders. I know emulators such as SNES 9x support retro arch shaders, would be nice if Altirra did too one day, this would make it the uncontested king of Atari emulation.

Edited July 5, 2019 by subjugator