classicgamer74 Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Question, was there ever a more completed prototype of Tempest for the 5200 found or has anyone made a homebrew of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 The version of Tempest we sell in the store is a more complete version of the prototype, and it was completed by the original Atari programmer, Keithen Hayenga. ..Al 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Yes the prototype was completed by the original programmer, but the prototype that is out there was the last version that was worked on at Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicgamer74 Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 Okay. Eventually I'll have to get a refurbished 5200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Get yourself a track-ball too. This game works well with the track-ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 Loosely related; was the true original & authentic bin for the original 400/800 tempest proto ever made available anywhere? (BEFORE it was modified into the “tempest extreme” version) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 No because there isn't one. It would have ported after the 5200 version was finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 On 10/12/2019 at 9:52 PM, Tempest said: No because there isn't one. It would have ported after the 5200 version was finished. I don’t understand. If that’s true, then how did Video 61 use the Atari 400/800 Tempest proto as the foundation to build Tempest Extreme if there wasn’t one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 7 minutes ago, Supergun said: I don’t understand. If that’s true, then how did Video 61 use the Atari 400/800 Tempest proto as the foundation to build Tempest Extreme if there wasn’t one? They didn't. There is no 400/800 Tempest. There was the half finished 5200 proto and the finished version that the programmer did. That's it. I don't know what they based their version off of, but there's no 8-bit proto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Ok. So then the Video 61 Tempest Extreme (and subsequently the more recent Tempest Elite) was either built from the Atari 5200 proto and/or was a built from scratch homebrew; but either way, it was NOT built from an Atari 400/800 proto. If so, then I understand now, but I am very disappointed in the manner in which Tempest Extreme was promoted back when they released it. (meaning had I known it was merely a hack of the 5200 proto or worse, a homebrew, I would never have purchased it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Wasn't Tempest Extreme a port of Tempest 2000, and coded from scratch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicgamer74 Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 I've never heard of Tempest Extreme. What's the story behind it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Tempest Extreme was released about 10 years ago through Video 61; one of 3 big companies (with Best Electronics and B & C Computer Visions being the other 2) that purchased and/or came into stockpiles of old unsold Atari merchandise, such as NOS cartridges, systems & accessories. Over the years, many unreleased protos were found amongst these boxes of items and subsequently sold to Atari gamers & collectors. Sometimes exclusively by 1 of the 3 companies, other times by all 3. Now it’s hard for me to go back 10 years and understand exactly how or why, but there is no doubt in my mind that the way that the Tempest game description was “carefully worded”, made it seem like they had found the proto, but that it was buggy & incomplete, and they put together a team to “correct” & “enhance” the game. (kind of like what happened with 2600 Turbo) And, at the time, nobody else had an Atari 400/800 Tempest proto, at least not to the general public’s knowledge, so purchasing this “hacked” Tempest Extreme was the only way to acquire (or at least indirectly acquire) the proto. It wasn’t made clear that it was an original “homebrew” or “hack of the 5200 proto”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 There isn't an Atari 400/800 proto of Tempest, I don't know how many different ways I can say this. If it was planned for release on the 400/800 (and no documents say it was) then it would have been a port of the 5200 version (this was the common way to do things). Since the 5200 version was cancelled and never completed, no 400/800 version exists. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 I know, I totally get it. And I don’t mean at all to be questioning you here. In fact, I’m not! I believe you Matt. I was merely explaining some of the history of the “extreme” version of the game since he had asked about it. Since 2009 or so when they released that game, I had been “searching in vain” for the “original” unmodified proto; and in vain of course, because now I know that it never existed! I totally get that now. They either home brewed it from scratch or they merely converted & modified the 5200 version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Well, if you are buying a patched replica of a game, it isn't the same as owning the original prototype anyway? If it had been me, I would've considered it a homebrew no matter which was the source, in particular if it was mentioned a team of developers had to fix it in order to be playable. Depending on how large batch they made, the Tempest Extreme game might be collectable anyway, even if is not based on the prototype you thought it would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Does anyone know the cart ROM sizes of 5200 Tempest released version , vs Tempest Xtreme and Tempest Elite? I know Xtreme and Elite require 64k RAM machines, but given all the web's and music I've wondered how big their cart size was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 5200 Tempest is 32k and runs fine on a 16k 5200. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevnaguy Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 On 10/12/2019 at 7:12 PM, sramirez2008 said: Get yourself a track-ball too. This game works well with the track-ball. especially when you mod your trakball to have a spinner gives you that authentic arcade feel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 11 minutes ago, thevnaguy said: especially when you mod your trakball to have a spinner gives you that authentic arcade feel I’m not that handy, but I would love to have the spinner mod added ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Ok. So it’s been awhile. And I’d like to hit this again. Question 1: Did anyone ever convert the original Atari 5200 Tempest proto rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? Question 2: Did anyone ever convert the fixed/finished Atari 5200 Tempest rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 minute ago, Supergun said: Ok. So it’s been awhile. And I’d like to hit this again. Question 1: Did anyone ever convert the original Atari 5200 Tempest proto rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? Question 2: Did anyone ever convert the fixed/finished Atari 5200 Tempest rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? No and No as far as I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 On 10/22/2021 at 9:28 AM, Supergun said: Ok. So it’s been awhile. And I’d like to hit this again. Question 1: Did anyone ever convert the original Atari 5200 Tempest proto rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? Question 2: Did anyone ever convert the fixed/finished Atari 5200 Tempest rom into a functional/playable rom for the Atari 400/800 computer line? No on both questions. Game is unplayable with a digital stick anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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