Ultimate 1mb, Altirra Basic, and new life for old Basic games

[Lord Thag]

I've been catching up on what I've missed over the last few months due to work, and as part of that, I flashed the latest updates to my U1mb and Side2 cart. The 3.10 firmware image contains Altirra basic as a replacement option for Rev. C. by default, which is something I'd never really messed previously (I play on real hardware usually). So I thought cool, always love testing new stuff out right? Well, after reading up on it a bit and fooling around with it, I decided to check out how it affected some of the older games that were written entirely or partly in Basic.

 

I'm a fan of some of the older Epyx & Avalon Hill titles, particularly the Dunjonquest games, Invasion Orion and Crush Crumble and Chomp. They are definitely artifacts of the time though, and while I appreciate them, I have to be in patient mood to play them as they are painfully slow to play through these days.

 

Well, they were anyway. Altirra basic completely changes that. The speed increase really makes these games like a whole new deal I am finding. Hell, Crush Crumble and Chomp plays so fast now I find myself missing turns on SLOW. All of these games become positively zippy on Altirra, it's kind of great. I'm finding that Orion or CCC are now fast enough to fit in one of those '20 minutes before dinner' time slots we all have now as adults. Hellfire warrior plays as fast as Apshai Trilogy.

If you haven't messed around with this before, and you like any of these old games, and have the hardware to flash Altirra Basic onto a real Atari or cart, this really makes a huge difference in play-ablity for some of these old classics we rarely revisit these days.

[popsicle]

I am a big fan of Crush, Crumble, and Chomp and also run it in Altirra faster to speed up gameplay. Man, I have fond memories of hanging out with a childhood friend, pouring over that really excellent manual while that it took 5 minutes for the tape to load. We spent hours taking turns building a monster and trying to see who could survive longer. Really a lot of charm in some of these older quirky games. Never played Invasion of Orion, but I do remember also liking StarWarrior, which used a similar 'real time' input (and had an equally cool manual).

 

[_The Doctor__]

all games shoulf be converted to FastBasic IMHO ...lol

[Lord Thag]

21 hours ago, popsicle said:

I am a big fan of Crush, Crumble, and Chomp and also run it in Altirra faster to speed up gameplay. Man, I have fond memories of hanging out with a childhood friend, pouring over that really excellent manual while that it took 5 minutes for the tape to load. We spent hours taking turns building a monster and trying to see who could survive longer. Really a lot of charm in some of these older quirky games. Never played Invasion of Orion, but I do remember also liking StarWarrior, which used a similar 'real time' input (and had an equally cool manual).

 

Yeah CC&C is a classic. Movie monster games have been done quite a few times but never really in a strategy sim way like this does. The number of Default monsters /cities plus the ability to make your own really give it replay-ability. Shame we never got a proper sequel on the Atari. 
 

I do have Star warrior (and it’s prequel Rescue at Rigel) as well as the Apshai games. All of these games I learned later are spinoffs of the same engine as Temple of Apshai.
 

All of the Apshai titles are great. I drooled over them after I read an in depth review as a kid but never saw one locally. I actually just played through the first trilogy for the first time a year ago, so it isn’t a nostalgia thing so much as they are still just fun.