BIGHMW

I was counting not only all 69 original official releases from 1982-87 but also the 15-18 prototypes as well as the numerous A8 conversions and also all of the original homebrews from our tremendous family of developers who happen to call this forum home. But also, you almost forgot to include Peter Meyer and all at Video 61/Atari Sales and their cartridge-only releases they have also. I'll make sure to extract the files from my SD card I use on my Atarimax multicart from their various locations, from A-Z, you know, those locations. 🙂

THAT, RIGHT THERE, would've been a game changer, I'll bet some 5200 owners would've been more attracted to the XEGS as such a controller makes the XEGS perhaps a frontrunner as opposed to having to put up with having to use a separate keyboard and joystick setup. Games like Star Raiders, Countermeasure and Defender did benefit from the 5200's combo joystick/keypad controller as that configuration makes it easier to access certain functions in most games without having to either put down the joystick or look down to access the keyboard to (hopefully) hit the right button, many a gamer on an A8/XL/XE/XEGS can tell you how many lives they lost in those specific games. RealSports Baseball is a breeze on the 5200 compared to the A8/XL/XE/XEGS conversion, so many ways of hitting/bunting and defensive and pitching modes simply excel on Big Sexy.

1) 2600 (VCS) adapter compatibility (later 2-port units only, and there are plenty of those), so it's like having two systems in one console 2) Compatibility with BOTH digital (2600 and 7800, with either Redemption 5200 or Electra Concepts or Retro Game Boyz Masterplay) and analog controllers 3) 5200-exclusive titles like Tempest, Castle Blast, and the Mean Hamster Software titles, among others 4) Surge of third-party homebrew controllers available from the likes of @Lucas Lac124, @edladdin, Wico, Coin Controls, and Retro Game Boyz among others 5) Many new homebrew titles that are being developed for the 5200 FIRST, and, those titles and XL/XE conversions that actually play better on the 5200 than on the XEGS/8-bit 6) The legendary CX53 Trak-Ball controller Those 6 outweigh the XEGS' 64K of RAM and its rather large library enough, and while yes we COULD, use some more conversions we DO already have about 500 titles to choose from. ...and yes while we are a very small community, but contrary to popular belief, we are a very thankful community that actually appreciates the wonderful work that these guys and gals put in (and have put in) to make Big Sexy great, even 40 years later. A BIG Thank You to all of those who either program, produce, or convert titles over to our beloved units!!!

I DID watch the clip and I think Ryan has yet another masterpiece on his hands, we'll see what happens on his next update.

After watching that video it makes me think that one of these days if and when (more likely when at this point though that may change) I ever bring back The Atari Report I should pull a page out of progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen's playbook like he has on HIS YouTube channel and include an interview segment on that channel. I believe that will both, a) help the channel pick up speed and get going in the YouTube algorithms so I can get more hits/subscribers, and b) allow me to brush up my interviewing skills and meet and greet some Atari legends and the budding programming stars of today who make our Atari community great, perhaps a segment, named (to throw one out there) "Atari Today". I would love to have Ryan Witmer as one of my first guests on my show. At first, it'll be held right here at BIGHMW.com World Headquarters with myself as your host/presenter doing interviews through my home camera (perhaps my Sony HDR-CX12 camcorder with its HDMI or composite video output hooked up to a video-capture card to use in place of a webcam for better quality video as most webcams like on my laptop only do 30 fps and I need 45-60 fps at least for better quality). And also a Shure pro podcast mic with a Frameworks stand will do me good too, Brian Tyler Cohen has this very same tech setup on his "No Lie With Brian Tyler Cohen" podcast and also his two YouTube-only series "Democracy Watch" with co-host Marc Elias, and "The Legal Breakdown" with co-host Glenn Kirschner. WHO KNOWS where this will lead me but in all seriousness the game looks promising, I do like the idea of crossing over elements of Dig Dug and also Night Stalker into this mix, knowing everything that @Ryan Witmer does ends up golden through the games I have played of his, like Intellidiscs and Rob 'n' Banks this one will be a good one too!!!

....and, to follow up just a second on my reply to your last post, true, not all of us are "ungrateful", I have always thanked guys like Paul Lay @playsoft, @glurk and @Ryan Witmer and countless others for their tremendous (and sometimes tedious) work that they do and have done to make conversions and all-new original ports for Big Sexy. Plus, you only see the "thank you" part on the AA forums in the sense of our text (the wording) we post on these threads, the real "thank you"s come from not only the downloads of those titles they do for us, but also the constant joy we get out of their hard work and that is one thing some of these guys like the ones I mentioned earlier on in this post do get, in the form of the constant playing and file-sharing of their work in hopes to turn others on to playing them too and maybe convincing them to be a part of the 5200 community like I have proudly been a part of for these past 40 years. THAT, is the real "thank you", what you see in text form is only the bare minimum, there is a bigger "thank you" in the fact that over the long term, their work is still being appreciated to this very day. Now I'm gonna go and play some 5200 Asteroids that Paul Lay did for us last year that he ported over from the A8 and even mapped to the keypad and improved the defense systems of. Maybe even if it's not Asteroids or another great A8 title he ported like Yar's Strike, you should do the same thing too. THAT, is where THE REAL "thank you" comes from, our plays, not just our downloads.

That's why I also own an XEGS to go along with her, but, you would think that since the XEGS has 4x the onboard RAM of the 5200 that maybe every single game made for the 5200 would've been ported over to the A8/XL/XE/XEGS but apparently not as there are about a dozen and a half titles that are 5200 exclusives and I TRIED to even get Homesoft on the 8-bit forums to do them and he wouldn't for some BS reason. I was going to try and get 5200 Tempest ported over so I could play her on the XL/XE/XEGS as opposed to having to be stuck with 2 different systems just to play a handful of games on one. 5200 Super Breakout was also another port I tried to get done on her too, since it both looks and sounds better than the OG 1979 A8/XL/XE/XEGS version, anyone who's seen and played both can tell you that!

More than enough motivation to have (and keep) BOTH units. The 5200 has the best control mechanics and with either Redemption or Masterplay the best lineup of both analog AND digital controls, but the XEGS has graphic and storage capabilities beyond it. Great to have BOTH!!! I busted my ass off to reacquire both the XEGS and 7800 earlier this year and they're not going anywhere except to (in the case of the 7800) get repaired.

When I restored my Trak-Ball last year I also used Best gold-contact keypads and start/pause/reset clusters, they are much better than the original carbon contacts on the old sets of buttons, so for those who want to either restore or upgrade their keypads for their Trak-Balls, you can use TWO sets of Best buttons to do so. The onboard contacts on the trak-ball's circuitry are already gold, so why can't the buttons be that way too!!!

Beautiful, well done!!! Is that 3D-printed or injection-molded??? I can venture that she is (still) a prototype and if that's the case from what I see in that pic I'm sure we will see an even better version in our hands and gaming setups real soon!!! BRAVO!!!

I don't take money for my reviews or any of my other content on any of my 3 channels, but yes I DID read on Quora that someway somehow YouTube and Google deliberately suppresses smaller channels like all 3 of mine in favor of the bigger, more corporate ones that cater to the advertisers Google infiltrates on their videos, even during the middle of some of those videos, in which, as a viewer, as well as a content producer, pisses me off!!! Here's that Quora article that explains my case!!! https://www.quora.com/Why-does-my-YouTube-channel-get-no-views

Thank you for the improvements @MrFish, That's coming from me. I'll check them out later on this week and let you know what I think. More folks should be just as appreciative. I know that most of us here on AA are like I am being right now, more outside of AA should be, F*** The Haters!!! Let the haters hate, I'm still with Big Sexy, and have been for 40 years, and as for those who criticize her CX52 analog controllers before they write off the 5200 altogether they should at least check out either Redemption 5200 (available in both 2600/Sega and 7800 versions) or a RetroGameBoyz deluxe 5200 controller, and also their Masterplay clone for more digital options readily available that they make, or they can go F*** themselves!!! Sure we do need more games and yes some improvements on some of the original 69 titles could be used to some point but the 5200, 40 years later, is still in my household and in my heart, so even if I don't ever get the chance to bring back The Atari Report in its full version then you can bet that "The Atari 5200 SuperReport" will still roll on regardless!!! "ColecoVision EXTRA!" will soon debut alongside it too!!!

In which explains why I have been thinking of shutting down operations of BIGHMW.com Enterprises, as all 3 of my YouTube channels, despite all the great content on them, are seriously lagging behind with each having less than 200 subscribers, you would think that the ONLY CHANNEL named The Atari Report would've drawn dick, here it is, abandoned 18 months after its inaugural launch in July 2020. BIGHMW TV, has had only one video uploaded this year, my annual State Of Warrior Nation Address. Only the Ray Jackson channel has had content loaded constantly on it and yet only a few dozen views on each video, I THROW UP MY HANDS GUYS!!! I even tried to get Cindy Margolis to help analyze my talent only to have request fall on (conveniently) deaf ears, is it that I live in a small town like Port Townsend or what??? I always thought zip code didn't matter anymore with the internet.

I agree, the 8-bit games were THE BEST EVER era of video games, regardless if they were either 6502 or Z80 processed. There's no better raster-based arcade font than what we now affectionately call "Namco font", the very same font that almost every arcade game that mattered used, regardless of the game maker. And the 5200 is perfectly capable of replicating that font as we have seen in the "Namco font" hacks of Centipede as well as Pac-Man Arcade and I believe there are a few others plus there are more on the 8-bit library as well, Time Pilot for the XL/XE/XEGS is most noted of them.

I have that DVD (the original 1999 DVD release in the snapcase) where's the glitch at? I've never seen the film, I have it, 300, and also plan on getting John Wick (the first one) since that, like the other two, has the same FX in it, John Wick 4 dropped today on DVD. How good is the John Wick series of films, I'm not too much a fan of new (post-2010) films as I consider most of them to be nothing more than frivolous crap coming out of Hollywood mostly with actors I've never even heard of. I haven't even gone into a movie theater since 2003 (Terminator 3 - Rise Of The Machines).

I downloaded only one of the titles on that compilation, Airstrike II, there are two versions, one is 16K, the other 32K. Any possibility, even remotely that since I've got both posted here that somebody can make a 5200 version of either one depending on which one can be converted as I still don't have the AVG Cart (Ultimate Cart is still not available)? I'm getting myself out of my financial hole I'm in and by the time July rolls around I'll then be able to obtain all of those multicarts (Concerto for my 7800, Ultimate SD for ColecoVision and AVG Cart for my XEGS) and look into getting my 7800 repaired too so I can finally bring back The Atari Report by this fall. Airstrike_II.zip

I'm STILL IN for 2 as well. As for those who complain about the $100.00 price tag I'm sure that once we get these beauties in our hands and get them in game shape that you will all agree that they'll be well worth the asking price. This, is why the 5200, now 40 years later, is still THE BEST gaming console, considering her inaugural past and how things support wise for both controllers and also peripherals and games were as opposed to nowadays, hey, better late than never!!! It's Big Sexy's time to shine, even though it took 5 decades it looks now that it's all well worth it. This coming from a 5200 owner from the get-go back when I got my first date with one for my 17th Birthday (May 19th) back in 1983.

Discovered Qix in 1983 at an arcade at Louie's Famous Food & Games in Tarzana, CA, played it many times along with Gorf, Phoenix, Missile Command and Tempest, Louie's was famous for the deal of getting 8 tokens for $1.00 everyday!!! That's 12.5 cents per play!!! Qix grew on me then so I was STOKED when I saw a cart of it at Best Products in the summer of 1984 for the 5200 (post-crash, drastically discounted), it was the first home version of Qix I played (the one for GameBoy was my next), then after getting my first XEGS 3 years ago and seeing A8 Qix I was disappointed that Atari put almost zero effort into it, but nowadays I'm glad to see that John Champeau @johnnywc and his company Champ Games has now given 2600 owners their own version of Qyx (yes it IS spelled "Qyx" that is not a typo knowing Champ Games) and it is a masterpiece!!! QIX, timeless, priceless, and, very underrated, underappreciated, and under-respected.

....and then of course, there is always me, with my little-known series known better as "The Atari 5200 SuperReport", and soon, "ColecoVision EXTRA!" ...and an all-new opening graphics presentation in which will debut in October with our season premiere starting our second season!!! The Atari 5200 SuperReport Opening - New edit b.mp4

Well, for all the 5200 haters out there I have been a Big Sexy player for these past 40 years since getting my first date with her on my 17th Birthday back on May 19th, 1983, and in spite of her (original, since improved on) suspect quality of build, the CX52 analog dual-pot-based joystick/keypad controller with dual-fire buttons is legendary, she can do things in split seconds that might take more time to do on the A8/XL/XE keyboard in certain situations, like hyperspace in Defender, various control systems and thrust speeds in Star Raiders, Selecting plays in RealSports Football, pitches and locations in RealSports Baseball, and kick heights in RealSports (Football, I as a footy purist and a proud Arsenal supporter refuse to use that dreaded "s" word to describe The Beautiful Game), as well as crack the launch codes in Countermeasure, and so many more games also incorporate the keypads capabilities. As for controller options, maybe 40 years ago we would've complained, but now, we have Redemption 5200, we have RetroGameBoyz brilliant lineup of controllers, I and some of us also happen to own those German-imported ProPaddle 2 5200 paddle controllers too that Ralf Puckner came up with years ago that I reviewed on "Ray Jackson Reviews" (Episode 3), we also have various kickstarter Masterplay units available, as well as those from RetroGameBoyz and of course the 1983 original Masterplay from Electra Concepts. Plus, don't forget, as much as I and most of you always want to see more titles be ported over from the A8, there were, originally only 69 titles officially released between 1982-1987, plus there were about 15-20 unreleased titles, many of them finished and completed and some, like Tempest, completed later on, that game, is exclusive to the 5200 and to this day, still has not been ported over to nor has been made for the A8/XL/XE. Plus, no A8/XL/XE can ever play 2600 games as there is no adapter for them like for the 5200. So yes, she may be big, she may only have 16K of RAM, but, she has a lot going for her nowadays compared to her dogdays when she was blamed for the infamous Crash Of 1983, but 40 years later, she at least deserves some respect, maybe that could come on a new 5200-compatible console (with both a cartridge port and an SD card slot), that would be in a different form factor that would allow all of us to relive those grand days of the "third-wave wars" we and ColecoVision owners had (I own both) BITD.

What I'd like to see, since Curt Vendel is no longer with us is maybe for @smbaker to perhaps manufacture a prototype for a dual-OS (A8/XL/XE/5200) multicart/interface that would boost the overall RAM (much like Champ Games' ARM-based technology that John Champeau's 2600 games use @johnnywc) and would output to a 5200 console using its onboard OS to run games on it, although that might be impossible due to having to reconfigure the controls from digital to analog or vice versa if one were to make a dual-OS multicart/interface with an output to an A8/XL/XE/XEGS console. It's worth a somewhat go for those who don't want to have to get a bulky standalone PC to enjoy BOTH sets of games on one console. Two different units, each has its own ways to use one, one for 5200-compatible controllers (that also will work with all Masterplay and Redemption units as well for those who want to use them), or one for use with a PC keyboard and a conventional A8-style digital control or PC-style control. WIN-WIN!!! Two models, one for the 5200, one for the 8-bit lineup. Every game. Both consoles. All winners. All smiles. Nobody ever gets shut out ever again. .bin, .xex, .car, .rom, .cas, .atr, you name it. If any Atari 5200/A8/XL/XE game uses it, they should both be able to play it. Plain and simple.

I dig and am entertained by the idea of maybe playing Centipede or Millipede with a mouse as an alternative to a trak-ball, even though I own both a CX53 (the same one I have owned since my 17th Birthday since 1983, fully-restored/cleaned,reconditioned and fitted with Best Lifetime gold-contact button keypads, last year by yours truly) and a CX80, I'll probably use my Redemption 5200 with my mouse with a USB-to-DB9 adapter (or an old-skool PS2-to-DB9 adapter) to use on those games, but what makes THIS guy's version of the Masterplay/Redemption so special is that he is trying to make her the ULTIMATE interface that'll also work with other analog games like Super Breakout and Missile Command, in which the exact pinpoint direction of the stick indicates the cursor's actual position as opposed to the other two trak-ball-based games I mentioned earlier, I'm looking forward to the completion of this prototype and will be following this thread along with most of you, I'm STOKED!!!

True dat to the POKEY audio on the 5200, but, over the most recent years programmers and even our own Fred Quimby @batari have incorporated POKEY-like technology (a.k.a. "HOKEY") in a chip, into some of the newer programs in either ROM or cartridge format like in the 7800 Concerto multicart, in which is optional. You can, for an extra charge, get a HOKEY chip installed in your Concerto so you CAN have POKEY sound along with the TIA sound that you currently get with the 7800. I did not know of such an option at the time I had my first Concerto (earlier pre-production/launch edition version, late 2020) but when I do get another one this June I will make sure to get one installed in it and pay the extra $$$ to get it.

Something like the CX24 digital stick the 7800 came with combined with the gold flex circuit keypad instead of the dual-pot x/y-based analog system, oh if Warner and Atari had only thought of that as a possible option for those who wanted one that would've boosted sales.

Any update on availability of the ROMs for them or of the whereabouts of the developers of (what would be if we have anything to say about it) these 3 potential instant classics, I'd love to see what Space Cavern would've been like on an 8-bit or 5200.