Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle

General Chat => Electronic HandHeld Games & Vintage Toys, Home Consoles & Computers => Topic started by: Belike on November 20, 2012, 05:43:02 PM

Title: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 20, 2012, 05:43:02 PM
Under the pressure of André, finally I put my hands on a nice Atari 800 XL setup with 70 games, books, a cartridge, etc. :D
As I never had an Atari computer, I was a bit afarid of handling it, but it is really simple indeed.
Now I can compare the games with the C64 stuff and open a new chapter in our nice discussion about these gems. ;D
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9PffdU0lpAM/UKuwzExE6KI/AAAAAAAAG44/QPDWgPe0vbY/s912/Atari%2520800%2520XL%2520001.jpg)

(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vZKq3NKkoU0/UKuw0P20HSI/AAAAAAAAG5E/VeKRZptCJrc/s912/Atari%2520800%2520XL%2520005.jpg)
I guess these bootmaster is some kind of a hack from 1996, but loading games with it is very, very simple.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ovyIklcXQKE/UKuwzF1GMdI/AAAAAAAAG40/4NAlOPZ48_g/s912/Atari%2520800%2520XL%2520002.jpg)
The first game I loaded:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H9svaeb7eMk/UKuwzbBMZII/AAAAAAAAG48/ir4JLsvrArg/s912/Atari%2520800%2520XL%2520003.jpg)

More games soon......
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 20, 2012, 06:11:12 PM
YIIIIIIIHAAAAAAA !!!!  :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:

Congrats Béla and welcome to the wonderful world of Atari 8 bit machines.  These bootloaders were all-around BITD not just in '96 but already in the early 80s.... there are really fancy one's but I preferred the really fast one's ;)

It's very easy to create your own boot loader menu's (not that you will need it often now...)

Noticed how fast the games load.... ;D ;D ;D

Oh by the way from that floppy here's my list of best games:

1) Miner 2049er. If you like DK you'll love Miner
2) Bruce Lee. Classic in all ways.
3) Crystal Castles

And I'm afraid I  don't know Chuckie Egg (or it made very little impression on me)

So I....uh.......I just realized something........


I guess this means I'll have to get a C64 now......  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: anunaki on November 20, 2012, 06:22:06 PM
Don't know Chucky Egg? Brilliant game 8)

nice to see that Videopac, my father used to own one so it was my 1st step into videogaming :spaceace:
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 20, 2012, 07:00:06 PM

So I....uh.......I just realized something........

I guess this means I'll have to get a C64 now......  ;D ;D
Yeahhh, I'm really curious about your opinion about the other side. :D
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: ataritoobin on November 20, 2012, 09:01:39 PM
Nice pickup, Béla!  You'll have lots of fun with that setup.

Did AtariArtist come with the pen and tablet?
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 20, 2012, 09:03:59 PM
I remember playing donkey kong on a catridge at a friend of mine back in the day.

Also i remember the hours of typing code and then discover in the end that there was a mistype somewhere along the way  ;D

nice pickup!

cannot tell anything else about is as i was a C64 man myself  ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Blanka on November 20, 2012, 09:31:23 PM
Did they make Chuckie Egg for the Atari too? Always thought it was a ZX Spectrum only title.
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: anunaki on November 20, 2012, 09:37:35 PM
I played Chucky Egg on MSX and C64
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 20, 2012, 09:49:27 PM
Nice pickup, Béla!  You'll have lots of fun with that setup.

Did AtariArtist come with the pen and tablet?
Unfortunately not, actually I've never heard about it, I guess it is this one:
(http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/xlperipherals/cx-77.JPG)
Is it a good equipment?
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 20, 2012, 11:38:12 PM
It was great for it's time. Better than Koalapad IMHO.
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Digimon on November 21, 2012, 12:55:10 AM
Nice catch.

I started with an Atari 400 when it came out.

And of course you have to play Star Raiders and M.U.L.E. (Landing on the Planet IRATA;))

There are a lot of other great games, all Atari carts, the synapse titles (zeppelin, shadowworld, necromancer..., bristles, and you should Dandy give a try, (the father of gauntlee with 4! Player mode.

 
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 21, 2012, 05:43:51 PM
Chickie Egg: ;)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nhbL_FDaK5Y/UK0ELRHrMRI/AAAAAAAAG7c/XKywHsY51SM/s800/WP_001066.jpg)

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Zsup5LmCwuM/UK0ELca2lmI/AAAAAAAAG7Y/C9y4WFWrmo4/s800/WP_001067.jpg)

It is very similar with Miner 2049-er, pics soon...... ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 28, 2012, 08:39:20 PM
Listed all the games on floppies, seems like we have a nice selection of games here :D

Blue Max                   Amaurote                       Spy vs. Spy 2         Ms.Pacman
Electrician                 Wizzard of Wor                Joe Blade               Attack of the Mutant Camels
Jet Set Willy              Deluxe Invaders               Pyramid                 Knight Lore
Oils Well                    Archon                          Tapper                   Popeye
Hero                         Quest for Tires                Boulder Dash 2        Robotron 2048
Pitfall 2                     Bounty Bob Strikes Back    Choplifter               Feud
Donkey Kong Jr.          Bruce Lee                       Missile Command     Joe Blade
Donkey Kong              Chuckie Egg                    Rampage                Agent USA
Spellbound                 Crystal Castles                Dig Dug                  Head over Heels
Miner 2049-er             Encounter                      Pacman                  Atomic
Pharao's Curse            Starquake                      Zorro                     Ghostbusters
Green Beret                Q-bert                          Spy vs. Spy             Ballblazer
Berzerk                      Blue Thunder                  International Karate  Dynablaster
Dan Strikes Back          Defender                        Kikstart                  Deflektor
Raid Over Moscow        Arkanoid                        Spy Hunter             Into The Eagle's Nest
Frogger                      Beach Head                   Jet Boot Jack          Zaxxon
Aroy the AArdvark         Cavernia                       Galaxian                 Lode Runner

If anybody has some more games and a possibilty to copy them, please let me know. ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: ataritoobin on November 28, 2012, 10:22:45 PM
That's a good list!   :o

Don't forget Alley Cat and Caverns of Mars.  Also the Epyx "Games" series are great with friends (arguably the C64 versions might be better  ::) ;D)

There was another game I liked - not quite, but something like "Rainbow Road"?

EDIT: Ah!  "Rainbow Walker"

(http://www.atarimania.com/8bit/screens/rainbow_walker_2.gif)

There's also actually a really nice recent port of Space Harrier here: http://www.rgcd.co.uk/2011/07/space-harrier-atari-8-bit-xexl.html
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 28, 2012, 10:42:00 PM
Thanks for the tips Steve, Epyx games are must have of course, used to play them a lot on C64. ;)
Never heard of Rainbow w
Walker and Caverns of Mars, but checked them on youtube and they look like great games. ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: anunaki on November 28, 2012, 10:55:12 PM
Listed all the games on floppies, seems like we have a nice selection of games here :D

Blue Max                   Amaurote                       Spy vs. Spy 2         Ms.Pacman
Electrician                 Wizzard of Wor                Joe Blade               Attack of the Mutant Camels
Jet Set Willy              Deluxe Invaders               Pyramid                 Knight Lore
Oils Well                    Archon                          Tapper                   Popeye
Hero                         Quest for Tires                Boulder Dash 2        Robotron 2048
Pitfall 2                     Bounty Bob Strikes Back    Choplifter               Feud
Donkey Kong Jr.          Bruce Lee                       Missile Command     Joe Blade
Donkey Kong              Chuckie Egg                    Rampage                Agent USA
Spellbound                 Crystal Castles                Dig Dug                  Head over Heels
Miner 2049-er             Encounter                      Pacman                  Atomic
Pharao's Curse            Starquake                      Zorro                     Ghostbusters
Green Beret                Q-bert                          Spy vs. Spy             Ballblazer
Berzerk                      Blue Thunder                  International Karate  Dynablaster
Dan Strikes Back          Defender                        Kikstart                  Deflektor
Raid Over Moscow        Arkanoid                        Spy Hunter             Into The Eagle's Nest
Frogger                      Beach Head                   Jet Boot Jack          Zaxxon
Aroy the AArdvark         Cavernia                       Galaxian                 Lode Runner

If anybody has some more games and a possibilty to copy them, please let me know. ;)

some nice games in there, really had a lot of fun playing the Spy Vs Spy games back then

I don't know how easy it is to put games from a PC on a floppy that fits the atari 800, but there is a huge "GameBase-Atari-800" download on usenet. It's 2.7 GB so it should contain lots of fun
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 29, 2012, 08:02:20 AM
Thanks for the tip. ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 10:37:21 AM
Yes about all games can be found on internet. There are several ways to get these games to run on the Atari.
The first one I ever used was Sio2PC. Since the Atari already uses a serial port for most peripherals it was dead easy to make an RS-232 compatible port using only 1 tiny chip named the MAX232 (IIIRC). I installed one inside my XE and made a standard sub 9 d connector on the backside.

However, this of course requires a PC with real RS-232 ports and these get more rare these days.

Of course the PC needs some software, called APE. This software emulates 8 floppy drives, printers yes even modems. The Atari needs nothing more, it will see the drives just like real one's.

There are also ready built Sio2PCs, the latest support USB.

Later other solutions came up, such as Mr. Atari's brilliant (but in essence pretty simple) IDE solution called MyIDE. This makes is possible to hook up any IDE Harddrive or flash module.

The latest MyIDE has just been released and uses CF cards. There are many more solutions, but here is an excellent starting point:

www.atarimax.com

You will find the Sio2Pc, MyIDE and APE there...

P.S. If you like Miner/Bounty Bob, also make sure to try Mr. Robot and his robot factory. Another game that is much nicer on the A8 then any other system  ;D

Oh and Alley Cat is the best game on the system, period. Perfect graphics, perfect sound, perfect gameplay, you'll love it !  If you want to know where Alley Cat "came from" try to find a game called Salmon Run (IIRC). AFAIK this was a "type in game listing" from Antic magazine. It's much simpler than Alley Cat, but you can clearly already recognize the style of the graphics, some humor and especially the great "water" sounds :)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 29, 2012, 02:02:35 PM
Wow, thanks for the nice technical overview André! :spaceace:
If I understand correct (in human language :D), I will need a cartridge with a cf card and I can copy the files from my pc there and the Atari will recognize the games on it?
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 06:17:18 PM
Uh yes.....but.....

It's a little bit complicated in use. I mean it's not like the x-in1 cartridges like they have for f.i. the Colecovision and 2600 which simply pop up a menu, you select a game and off you go.

The reason for this is very simple. Not all games originally came in the same format like on those game systems. I mean those had a (more or less) fixed ROM size and always the same structure.

A8 games came on tape, cartridge, floppy. and...protected floppy and this makes things a little more complicated.

In all honesty, I have a MyIDE cart but haven't got it set up yet like I want it to be...but that's probably just my fault :):)

But all in all, yes that is the idea :)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 29, 2012, 06:31:53 PM
looks like bela is ready to order one of those myide things and enjoy that usenet post  ;)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 29, 2012, 07:11:46 PM
looks like bela is ready to order one of those myide things and enjoy that usenet post  ;)
Yeah, thanks to Anunaki and Etienne, I have a 2,7 GB large Atrai game collection by now. :spaceace:
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: anunaki on November 29, 2012, 07:14:17 PM
Please don't forget to sleep :)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 07:47:53 PM
looks like bela is ready to order one of those myide things and enjoy that usenet post  ;)
Yeah, thanks to Anunaki and Etienne, I have a 2,7 GB large Atrai game collection by now. :spaceace:
Hah, that reminds me of my C64 friends BITD saying, yeah it's a nice system, but there is so little software for it......... ;D

Mind you, there is LOADS of rubbish too of course...
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 08:04:34 PM
Oh, and I just had to post Salmon Run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXGf8dS7YY


...and how about a game about ........going to the arcade ??  ;D ;D ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhwopeE7_aE
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on November 29, 2012, 08:25:53 PM
Oh, and I just had to post Salmon Run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXGf8dS7YY


...and how about a game about ........going to the arcade ??  ;D ;D ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhwopeE7_aE
Lol, Spare Change rocks! :D
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 09:33:18 PM
....and it sounds Soooooooo much nicer than the C64 version :p
Is it me or do I see some dust starting to gather on that bread-box  :D ;D :D

By the way, pretty damn amazing that the 1050 still has the original cardboard transport head protector ! :)
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: level42 on November 29, 2012, 10:04:06 PM
Very cool racing game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXX_otJc354

and a great Battlezone clone:

http://youtu.be/_Sd4ujPJKQ8

Although this doesn't look bad either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAfyhkqHDHM  (Never played this, was released with the XEGS and I was already a long time ST user at that time.

So....what's better than a Pokey ? Well of course: 2 Pokeys ! This demo really shows Atari made a mistake not including two of them a bit later in the range....very impressive !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5w4x9hze9Q
Title: Re: Atari 800 XL
Post by: Belike on December 02, 2012, 04:58:12 PM
Cool stuff, I like more and more these old games. :D
I was also suprised about that head protector cardboard, the seller really took care of this machine, there are absolutely no scratches, yellowing, etc. and the disks are also immaculate.