Shaggy the Atarian

This video was just posted by Insert Coin Doc, a documentary effort about Midway in the 90s, particularly covering the creation of hits like Mortal Kombat. I'm not sure if it's been posted to the net before hence the "New(?);" If so, then NVM At 2:35, the cameraman takes a brief look at the Atari booth, mainly focusing on the Virtuality setup with Zone Hunter(I recall seeing that on unreleased Jag game lists but I had not seen it running on the Jag before...unless this was really running on a Falcon, which seems to be the case?); They don't really show any of the other games before focusing on some of the Mortal Kombat actors performing in the aisle right next to the Atari booth, then moves on to Sega. It's an interesting visual time capsule, if anything:

Will you be to make it so that when you start up a save game that you aren't back at the original town? I just started playing it again but I cannot remember what I was doing when I stopped so I've had to go and needlessly retread a lot of ground.

This post is heavy on the Atari stuff but also the Commodore, as I cover arcade ports that were released this year. It's very possible I missed some stuff as it's particularly difficult to track most platforms, whereas @ZeroPage Homebrew is constantly maintaining homebrew release lists for Atari platforms (hats off to you ZPH)

I remember that being stated as the reason for many years but good to know the truth. And at least we got Native thanks to Strumwind...I just would have preferred for them to do the NUON port. On the CoJag, makes sense that certain things wouldn't be needed for games like Area 51 but overall it is more powerful than the stock Jag spec so that's where my curiosity lies in seeing what else it could do, since it didn't receive a lot of titles.

Granted it could be wrong since I know some "info" about the Jag's development isn't correct but I was going off things I've read over the many years - that originally Flare II had created some test designs that used 4MB of RAM and either an 020 or 030. Saying it's close to the Jag II I only mean in the sense of it's the only other significant piece of hardware apart from the Jag itself to see a wide release but didn't mean it was the Oberon/Puck chipset (Jag II did have an 020 though). There was also a quote I'd read here or on the ol' JS2 where someone at Atari had stated that had the Jag come with an 020 instead, it would have seen performance similar to the Saturn but who knows, maybe I'm remembering that wrong or it was a fake quote. That's why I'd like to see some new stuff made for it - to see how far it could get pushed! On one quote I do remember though, was my friend ECM, former editor of Gamefan Magazine (RIP ECM, 2018). Any time the Jag subject came up, he would go on about how stupid Atari was for "leaving half of it's brains on the table," stating that they were going to go with a 4MB RAM spec but at the last minute whittled it down to 2 to save a few bucks. He really felt that it was a detrimental decision to the platform as a whole, but the CoJag corrected it in its own way. What little I understand of how the Jaguar works is that the 020 being full 32-bit means fewer bus issues, and the higher 020 clock speed means a little more power - plus the extra RAM and HDD capacity as mentioned. Point taken that it depends on how much a game used the 68k - IIRC, Hover Strike used it a bit so it's one that would probably see the big boost but sure; but I also wonder that if optimized for the platform, you'd be able to not just get higher framerates but maybe as an example with BattleMorph, see further drawing distances or some extra added effects. I like the mention of more frames in Ultra Vortek and such - double the RAM would certainly lead to some benefits here and there. Perhaps the next SillyVenture or JagFest should challenge some coders to create tech demos for both the Jag and CoJag to see what the latter might be able to do better The lack of music is certainly the least of that game's problems but why not use the CoJag to make the Ultimate versions of certain games so they don't suck as much? BJ West's original mud boss could be restored!

CoJag was the arcade board which used most of the Jaguar chipset and was used for Area 51; It had 4MB of RAM and replaced the 68k with either a 68020 or an R3000 (I think the latter was used in Maximum Force). Fishin' Frenzy is an unreleased game for the board but I think that Galloping Ghost Arcade in IL has a cabinet running this. On a related note, it would be rad to see some Jaguar games make the jump to the CoJag board...in part to see what kind of performance jump they could get but also it'd be a way to see Jag games become coin-op (hello T2K Arcade ). I asked Tursi about this once who said he had looked into it a little but it's likely we'd need some new tools made to make anything like that happen. And coders would have to learn the 020 (is it drastically different to code for?). Still, the CoJag is the closest we got to a Jaguar II, or at least a chipset that is what the Jaguar should have been had the Tramiels been willing to throw that extra money at it.

I do these "Location Watch" posts about once a month, tracking and commenting on brand new arcade businesses opening all around the world; I do this to give these places a signal boost but also showing that the death of the arcade has been greatly exaggerated. If you guys don't mind, I'll start sharing them here, starting with the freshest one: Location Watch December 2022: New Arcades Open Around The World Prior to today's post, there was Location Watch October 2022...I've done seven of these posts this year.

Maybe they'd have changed the name for the final release or it was just something to look cool. Never made sense but I always liked the name myself.

Toaplan's Batsugun is coming back to arcades, an HD remix coming to exA-Arcadia next Spring. This will have a new arranged soundtrack but other enhancements haven't been announced yet (most likely it will do what other exA shmup titles have done by including the original game, a new HD remaster, then an EXA mode with some other changes)

The IP confusion was a bit easier to manage back when Atari used to post the list of IP that they still own on their website but currently it's been scrubbed, I wonder why. It was pretty handy for stuff like this but maybe they didn't want a light being shined on all the stuff they don't own anymore. As has been said, nothing released to arcades after June 1st 1984 (Paperboy through SF Rush 2049) belong to Warner; Atari SA has also sold IP off in recent years, BattleZone is now owned by Rebellion. IIRC, they were selling off lots of things piece meal back in 2012 (someone could have bought all the 70s arcade IP like Pong and Tank, plus the Atari brand logo for only $2 million - but the more valuable IPs were up for sale for a few hundred thousand each, like BattleZone, Yars Revenge, Centipede, etc. Only BZ sold before Atari changed their minds) Last time the IP list was available though, it was obvious that 95% or more of the games on the ST/TT was not theirs. It was basically just existing ports of arcade and some 8-bit PC games (Asteroids Deluxe, Star Raiders, Missile Command, Crystal Castles, etc). Almost nothing on the 7800, Lynx or Jaguar is theirs too, which is why the 50th collection doesn't have a lot from those. From what I've played of those or seen on the ST though, you're much better off just focusing on the original versions of each game instead of focusing on the bad ports that are better left forgotten. So the answer to this whole thread is that - anything you'd actually want to play from the ST, both Atari SA and Digital Eclipse would have to pay a licensing fee for and it probably wouldn't come cheap, hence the ST being ignored in the 50th Collection and other stuff (they probably don't want to highlight a bunch of Sega ports either). Perhaps the Tramiels themselves will want to do an ST celebration of some kind in 2025 when the ST turns 40?

Steering the subject back to the original topic, I think he could have spent a little more time on Midnight Mutants. I think that game was a great use of the 7800's sprite capabilities, especially when you get a lot of zombies on the screen (sure, a little slowdown) and they start exploding everywhere; The use of color and then the bosses. Plenty of games of that era didn't have bosses that size and it's pretty cool when they blow up. Should F-18 Hornet get any love or no? I know that frame rate isn't far above slideshow quality but it's still 3D on the system

Ah ok, I knew I wasn't 100% crazy Just mostly Was Desert Falcon shown off in 1984? I know Atari sat on a bunch of stuff that had been programmed for it around then but I thought that DF being an '87 release that it was started later. Or are you just talking about the games in general? (I was a kid back then and only 7800 marketing I ever saw was a mention of "Asteroids for the Atari 7800" in a Sears catalog, otherwise I had no clue what the 7800 was then and no one I knew had one)

I saw this on the stream and it looks like a lot of fun. Great little variation on the Pac-Man idea and something I'd buy on cart if it ever gets published. One thing that crossed my mind, but I imagine the costs might be too much (and it's cool to have your own thing anyways) was that it would work with the Crystal Castles license - player controls Bentley Bear collecting gems, while he's chased by creatures (from the OG arcade game sure, but maybe some new ones too - he's collecting gems to build his Crystal Castle).

My soft spot was always for Rush 2049 but my bias is that I barely played the first one, while I was working at an arcade when they bought a pair of Rush 2049s when brand new and that became the employee's go-to game to compete on (the rocket car which set off the rumble in the seat was usually my go-to there)

Yeah, I believe Defender and yourself, I was just misremembering as some 7800 games have the small pixel look of 320 on the Sony CRT I have (I also recall DF being a "Super Cartridge" although can't recall what was super about it since it didn't have a Pokey. Extra RAM probably)

Really like the concept. One fault of Atari was not taking a page from Nintendo and keeping their old IP alive, not by simply sprucing it up, but by going in different directions with it. Sure there was the occasional exception like T2k, but it was infrequent. I know this could possibly pile on work but have you thought about including some elements from Elf Adventure? I caught that AtariProtos recently updated that entry with info from W. Robinett and it was pretty interesting how he was going to have an anger/friend system with the elven NPCs in the game.

Great demos, I'm going to try out a few on my DF. One suggestion @saxmeister, since you would rather not be doing stuff that others have done, perhaps a port of something like Xari Arena on the 5200? IIRC that game was almost complete anyways and it's certainly unique among Breakout clones.

I'd already blown most of my Christmas budget but these tempt me a bit...very interesting to see how Vikings Saga is done with the two carts although I don't know the background on all that.

Ah my bad, thanks. I don't think DF is a terrible looking game but it seems to get overlooked (personal preference I suppose)

Thanks for that list, don't recall seeing one that detailed before. I thought that Desert Falcon was also in 320? It certainly doesn't have the wide pixels but maybe I'm crazy or misremembering. I could swear it has a sharper look though

As someone on YouTube was disputing the existence of Donut Dodo Do! (since he can play the Steam game on his iiRcade), exA has launched a page for it which backs me up. They've brought on an artist who has done work for Capcom on Rockman/Megaman; The exA version will also support 2-players ala Mario Bros.

When I first grabbed the Jag and picked up CM from a pawn shop the day afterwards, I had a similar experience to many out there, but I slogged through it at the time since it and Wolf 3D were the only games I had for it for a couple of weeks. The crashing into mountains thing has always been played up by AVGN types but certainly overblown. My main issue with the game, aside from no music, is that the gameplay is pretty dull. Every level except for the boss is...collect the pods. Then collect more pods. Then collect pods before the darkness gets them. Oh, you learned how to fly? Go collect pods as that'll teach the evil Pernitian Empire a lesson...or something. It's kind of meh. Perhaps if it had a JagLink feature so you could deathmatch another player or work together on pod collecting, then it would have been more exciting, but I suppose that's what AirCars was. For me, it was more entertaining to explore the areas but I prefer BattleMorph in every way - there's more to explore, it has the music, better graphics, the map function, and it's all objective based (yeah, plenty of collect-this-or-that missions but at least it's not solely that)

I forgot to mention this in my earlier post but yes, exact same thing. At first I thought it was because I was running it on faster settings so tried at defaults and same thing. Must be the ROM that's floating around out there...or perhaps when the game runs at a playable framerate, these are unforseen issues that pop up?

Dredging up this ol' thread as there's an update for this. The game was at IAAPA 2022 and they finally have a decent website going. If you are interested in this licensed remake, go here. One surprise at IAAPA is that they are also working on a licensed remake of Warlords. The software will be handled by an FPGA device but they've made a new cabinet that can handle either an LCD or you can put a 25" CRT into it - if you have a working one. Warlords is 2nd half of the video

IT does exist but they aren't doing anything with the exA. Was there a typo in my text? Just curious so I can fix it. I took a bunch of video of new exA games at the expo, here are a few but probably easier to check my channel and the exA playlist to see them all