5200 Homebrew Roms and Conversions?

[+DrVenkman]

2 hours ago, Tempest said:

Do any 5200 games really need the overlays?  Maybe Star Raiders.

Star Raiders only "needs" the overlays until you memorize the controls. If you want to maximize your score, you better not waste time actually looking at the overlay in the first place, lol.

[BIGHMW]

3 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

Star Raiders only "needs" the overlays until you memorize the controls. If you want to maximize your score, you better not waste time actually looking at the overlay in the first place, lol.

I also memorized the controls and after only 3 months after getting it I was playing Star Raiders without even needing the overlays and did quite well on the Pilot Mission level, never got killed on it, always knew when to head to a starbase whenever I needed my shields repaired and always kept my eye on the attack computer so oncoming Zylons were dust the moment they even thought about attacking my ship, such great times.

[MIKE5200]

On 6/16/2021 at 5:16 PM, Gemintronic said:

Didn't find a list per se but PDROMs.de lists some homebrew.  Not sure if these are duplicates.

 

Koffi - Yellow Copter http://cafeman.www9.50megs.com/atari/5200dev/KoffiKopter.html

Chicken http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=145936

Rolltris http://atariage.com/forums/topic/218019-rolltris-3rd-place-abbuc-sw-contest-2013/

Castle Blast https://pdroms.de/files/atari-atari5200-a5200/castle-blast-philly-classic-4-binary

Shooting Gallery http://sebastianmihai.com/atari-5200-shooting-gallery.html

 

Anyone else getting this when they click on Shooting Gallery? Dangerous Webpage Blocked

[+Cafeman]

23 minutes ago, MIKE5200 said:

Anyone else getting this when they click on Shooting Gallery? Dangerous Webpage Blocked

Not on my Android tablet. It loads fine. Using chrome. It is not a secure website however so you get browser warnings.

[+Gemintronic]

23 minutes ago, MIKE5200 said:

Anyone else getting this when they click on Shooting Gallery? Dangerous Webpage Blocked

Not me.  Tried Pale Moon, Firefox and Chrome.  Just downloaded the 5200 dev kit from that link in Chrome as well (Google loves to false flag downloads in Chrome).

A Googly search revealed hits that indicate it's a Norton / Internet Guard thing.

[MIKE5200]

On 6/18/2021 at 2:35 PM, Gemintronic said:

Not me.  Tried Pale Moon, Firefox and Chrome.  Just downloaded the 5200 dev kit from that link in Chrome as well (Google loves to false flag downloads in Chrome).

A Googly search revealed hits that indicate it's a Norton / Internet Guard thing.

Yes, Norton Safe Web program installed. Click on all of the other links and they work. It's strange!

[+Ryan Witmer]

On 6/17/2021 at 4:35 PM, Tempest said:

Do any 5200 games really need the overlays?  Maybe Star Raiders.

Activision's Space Shuttle probably needs them too.  I've owned it for years but never really played it because I don't have the manual or the overlays.

[Tempest]

6 minutes ago, Ryan Witmer said:

Activision's Space Shuttle probably needs them too.  I've owned it for years but never really played it because I don't have the manual or the overlays.

True, that's another complex one.  I never played it though since it's not my kind of game.

 

[Big Player]

On 6/12/2021 at 5:53 PM, Tempest said:

Too bad there's no one player version of MULE.  It always looked interesting, but I have no one to play it with.

You can play MULE one player.  It's the only way I've played it, with the cart on my 5200.

 

I'm sure it's better with more human players but three computer controlled players still play a decent game. I still think it is one of the best games ever made.

 

If you do try MULE, the tournament level is the only one to play. Maybe play one game on beginner or standard to get a sense of the game but then just jump right into the deep end.

[Tempest]

24 minutes ago, Big Player said:

You can play MULE one player.  It's the only way I've played it, with the cart on my 5200.

 

I'm sure it's better with more human players but three computer controlled players still play a decent game. I still think it is one of the best games ever made.

 

If you do try MULE, the tournament level is the only one to play. Maybe play one game on beginner or standard to get a sense of the game but then just jump right into the deep end.

Oh really?   I always thought it needed 2 or more players.  Good to know.

[BIGHMW]

6 hours ago, Big Player said:

You can play MULE one player.  It's the only way I've played it, with the cart on my 5200.

 

I'm sure it's better with more human players but three computer controlled players still play a decent game. I still think it is one of the best games ever made.

 

If you do try MULE, the tournament level is the only one to play. Maybe play one game on beginner or standard to get a sense of the game but then just jump right into the deep end.

I'll try it out also, I DO have it on both 8-bit and 5200, after I find a tutorial video on it so I can learn the ropes of it before actually diving in to the game itself.

[Big Player]

You definitely need to read the manual when learning to play MULE.  It is well written, like a lot of the early EA game manuals.

 

https://archive.org/details/Mule_atari8/page/n7/mode/2up

 

[+playsoft]

I think this is everything I've done on the 5200. Note that .hyb files only work on the Atarimax Ultimate SD.

 

I did not include the 5200 hacks with Darryl since he has them all available here.

5200.zip

[BIGHMW]

Thanks Paul, I found some that I didn't have in my library.

[TwoShedsWilson]

Would there be any interest in creating a ROM pack similar to what @Trebor does for the 7800? I'm not much of an archivist and what makes sense to me organizationally seems to not be the same thing that everyone else wants. I'm more than willing to share out some Google drive space and put in everything I have.

 

Probably a dumb idea, but it would be nice to see a solid ROMset for the 5200 since everything I can find currently is lacking.

[Wrathchild]

I always thought it would make more sense for either AtariAge / @Albert or Atarimania / @www.atarimania.com to extend their 5200 sections to included them?

[phuzaxeman]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:06 AM, playsoft said:

I think this is everything I've done on the 5200. Note that .hyb files only work on the Atarimax Ultimate SD.

 

I did not include the 5200 hacks with Darryl since he has them all available here.

5200.zip 826.03 kB · 22 downloads

Hey, I just played BlownSub for the first time and I really liked it. Fun game that has analog controls. Thanks for sharing. 

 

Also, I just played Asteroids with the keypad and it's really awesome.  Thanks. 

 

 

Quick question, and I'm not asking for anyone to port. But is it possible for 8bit Karateka to be ported to the 5200? The keypad controls would be pretty cool. Just wondering.  Wish there were more martial arts games.

 

Thanks.

[BIGHMW]

2 hours ago, phuzaxeman said:

Hey, I just played BlownSub for the first time and I really liked it. Fun game that has analog controls. Thanks for sharing. 

 

Also, I just played Asteroids with the keypad and it's really awesome.  Thanks. 

 

 

Quick question, and I'm not asking for anyone to port. But is it possible for 8bit Karateka to be ported to the 5200? The keypad controls would be pretty cool. Just wondering.  Wish there were more martial arts games.

 

Thanks.

I'm game for that.

[+playsoft]

13 hours ago, phuzaxeman said:

Hey, I just played BlownSub for the first time and I really liked it. Fun game that has analog controls. Thanks for sharing. 

 

Also, I just played Asteroids with the keypad and it's really awesome.  Thanks. 

 

 

Quick question, and I'm not asking for anyone to port. But is it possible for 8bit Karateka to be ported to the 5200? The keypad controls would be pretty cool. Just wondering.  Wish there were more martial arts games.

 

Thanks.

Thanks, out of them all Blowsub is my favourite.

 

It's hard to say with Karateka. It is using mode E graphics, which is a bitmap mode and it keeps 2 screen buffers so that one is displayed while the other is drawn. This requires 12K RAM so that only leaves 4K on the 5200 for everything else. Even if that was enough RAM the A8 program is a 90K disk/128K cart so it would be quite an undertaking to try and disassemble and modify something of that size - it could well take longer than programming a new martial arts game from scratch.

[Tempest]

I'd just be happy if someone would finish Blackbelt.  Or at least see if the collision detection could be added.

[phuzaxeman]

On 7/11/2021 at 4:28 AM, playsoft said:

Thanks, out of them all Blowsub is my favourite.

 

It's hard to say with Karateka. It is using mode E graphics, which is a bitmap mode and it keeps 2 screen buffers so that one is displayed while the other is drawn. This requires 12K RAM so that only leaves 4K on the 5200 for everything else. Even if that was enough RAM the A8 program is a 90K disk/128K cart so it would be quite an undertaking to try and disassemble and modify something of that size - it could well take longer than programming a new martial arts game from scratch.

Thanks for the details on Karateka.  Sounds like a big job.  Maybe Ninja or Bruce Lee would be easier?

 

One of the reasons I like Blowsub is it has that Air Sea Battle feel but uses the analog sticks.  What makes the 5200 shine is the analog sticks.  And when everything is working right with the analog sticks, the sticks and keypad games give a different gaming experience.  Magical Fairy and Curling along with classics like Galaxian, Pole Position, Baseball, Centipede, Star Raiders all have that analog feel that makes the 5200 a different console than the normal 8bit. 

 

Have you every played Arkanoid on the 8bit?  I think someone was working on updating or releasing a new 8bit version.  What kind work does it take to make a game play with analog controls like you did on Blowsub.  I'm not an expert but was wondering.

Edited July 12, 2021 by phuzaxeman

[+playsoft]

15 hours ago, phuzaxeman said:

Thanks for the details on Karateka.  Sounds like a big job.  Maybe Ninja or Bruce Lee would be easier?

 

One of the reasons I like Blowsub is it has that Air Sea Battle feel but uses the analog sticks.  What makes the 5200 shine is the analog sticks.  And when everything is working right with the analog sticks, the sticks and keypad games give a different gaming experience.  Magical Fairy and Curling along with classics like Galaxian, Pole Position, Baseball, Centipede, Star Raiders all have that analog feel that makes the 5200 a different console than the normal 8bit. 

 

Have you every played Arkanoid on the 8bit?  I think someone was working on updating or releasing a new 8bit version.  What kind work does it take to make a game play with analog controls like you did on Blowsub.  I'm not an expert but was wondering.

Ninja needs a XL so probably not, although if it's just uncompressing itself into the extra memory you might be able to do something with a bank switching cart. Bruce Lee looks more promising but it would still be a lot of work. The only easy ones are those which run on an unexpanded 400 or 600XL.

 

The CX52 joystick is really 2 paddle controllers so the code in Blowsub which reads the A8 paddles is also used to read the 5200 joystick. One thing I did in Blowsub for paddle control was to move the ship to the mid-point of the old and new positions first, so that it looked more like the ship was moving between them rather than instantly appearing at the new position.

 

Sometimes for digital control with the CX52 I split the controller range into 9 zones, dead zone in the middle and 4 either side to give 4 different speeds depending on how far you move the joystick (try Scramble or Yars' Strike). I'm not sure it plays any better than when using a digital stick, but control with the CX52 seems smoother this way.

 

I don't know about a new A8 Arkanoid but there is one in development for the 7800 which looks great: 7800 Arkanoid WIP

 

 

[phuzaxeman]

6 hours ago, playsoft said:

Ninja needs a XL so probably not, although if it's just uncompressing itself into the extra memory you might be able to do something with a bank switching cart. Bruce Lee looks more promising but it would still be a lot of work. The only easy ones are those which run on an unexpanded 400 or 600XL.

 

The CX52 joystick is really 2 paddle controllers so the code in Blowsub which reads the A8 paddles is also used to read the 5200 joystick. One thing I did in Blowsub for paddle control was to move the ship to the mid-point of the old and new positions first, so that it looked more like the ship was moving between them rather than instantly appearing at the new position.

 

Sometimes for digital control with the CX52 I split the controller range into 9 zones, dead zone in the middle and 4 either side to give 4 different speeds depending on how far you move the joystick (try Scramble or Yars' Strike). I'm not sure it plays any better than when using a digital stick, but control with the CX52 seems smoother this way.

 

I don't know about a new A8 Arkanoid but there is one in development for the 7800 which looks great: 7800 Arkanoid WIP

 

 

Great info!  Blowsub def feels smoother playing with the cx52. 

 

Looks like a lot of work to do conversions with the extra memory challenges.  Is it possible to do future 5200 hardware memory mods? 

 

I do have Chop Suey on the 5200 so that's cool.  I actually bought that game in the 80s and I believe it came from the Europe.

 

Probably the best way to get another martial arts game on the 5200 would be someone finishing Black Belt.  Graphics look really neat and the concept is great.  Whomever started that game had a great vision.  It's unfortunate that it was incomplete.  Maybe someone will pick it up one day.

 

Thanks for sharing 7800 Arkanoid.  I'll check it out.

 

[+Ryan Witmer]

1 hour ago, phuzaxeman said:

Thanks for sharing 7800 Arkanoid.  I'll check it out.

 

I played this at PRGE in 2019 and I can confirm that it's awesome.  Definitely on my to-buy list.

[+playsoft]

On 7/13/2021 at 5:17 PM, phuzaxeman said:

Great info!  Blowsub def feels smoother playing with the cx52. 

 

Looks like a lot of work to do conversions with the extra memory challenges.  Is it possible to do future 5200 hardware memory mods? 

 

I do have Chop Suey on the 5200 so that's cool.  I actually bought that game in the 80s and I believe it came from the Europe.

 

Probably the best way to get another martial arts game on the 5200 would be someone finishing Black Belt.  Graphics look really neat and the concept is great.  Whomever started that game had a great vision.  It's unfortunate that it was incomplete.  Maybe someone will pick it up one day.

 

Thanks for sharing 7800 Arkanoid.  I'll check it out.

 

 

Yes, Chop Suey was published by English Software originally. That needs a 48K A8 so whoever ported it will have put some effort into doing it.

 

I'm not a h/w guy so can't say how feasible a memory mod is. Probably the most basic would be to have 32K RAM at $4000..BFFF which is swapped out when a cart is present. The cart would need to be able to disable itself, so that you can copy the program from the cart into RAM. It would be nice if the unused address space between the chips could also be mapped to RAM as A8 games often make OS calls that require replacement routines when ported to the 5200.

 

With regards to Black Belt I think it depends on what's missing/wrong. If there are bugs that the original programmer couldn't fix they will be difficult for someone else to. When adding new functionality it depends on how much of the code you need to understand. When porting a game to the 5200 you don't really need to understand how it works; you are looking at what is code and what is data, what can go in ROM and what needs to go in RAM. The only occasion I put the effort in to fully understand a disassembly was when porting VCS Miniature Golf to the A8/5200/SNES. It's only a 2K ROM but I spread that out over the course of a year, although I was learning how the VCS worked at the same time.