[BPM Boy (by RetroNinja) - (in VCS Store)]

19 minutes ago, zzip said:

You can pair modern playstation/xbox controllers with the VCS if you have any.   Not too familar with the Atari Arcade stick.

 

 

Thanks but I am trying to avoid modern dual analog controllers as weird as that may sound to most people.

[BPM Boy (by RetroNinja) - (in VCS Store)]

Just turned on my VCS and I see BPM Boy in the VCS store.

 

I was fairly excited until I saw it was $20 as for some reason I was expecting it to be less.

 

Without a Classic Joystick control that is suitable for play, I am on the fence with this game for now.

 

I am curious if it will work well with my Atari Arcade Stick.

 

Can we get a free demo in the VCS store with a few playable levels?

 

Are the online leaderboards working? Were boss fights added as was mentioned earlier?

 

How many levels are in the game?

 

For now sadly, I may be holding off on this one.

[BPM Boy (by RetroNinja) - (in VCS Store)]

Hope trackball gets added at some point even if I have to use the buttons on the classic controller in my left hand while moving with the trackball with my right hand.

 

 

[Donut Dodo - (in VCS Store)]

4 hours ago, stirrell said:

If it is any consolation, based on the other leaderboards, I can almost guarantee that you will handily beat me at Donut Dodo :-).

I may play some of those games a lot more than you is probably why.

 

I can tell you that Donut Dodo is absolutely awesome retro arcade game and is worth every penny of the $5 it costs.

[Donut Dodo - (in VCS Store)]

I'm just grumpy today, lol.

 

Coffee should help.

[Donut Dodo - (in VCS Store)]

Unfortunately for VCS owners, it seems that only the Steam version will have online leaderboards.

 

This is a huge letdown for me.

[Physical USB Game Cartridges for Atari VCS]

I like the creativity in this thread and I think the future of Atari VCS Homebrew will be full of awesome surprises by so many creative folks in this community.

 

I look forward to many years of exciting Homebrew on the Atari VCS.

[Breakout: Recharged (in VCS Store)]

Here I compare Breakout Recharged on the VCS to Breakout Recharged on Steam using an Atari Spinner control.

 

 

[Screen edges cut off issue?]

I have the same issue with a Sony Bravia TV. 

 

The VCS is my only console that does this on that TV so it is a VCS issue, not a TV issue.

 

The VCS needs a screen resize option in the settings.

[Atari USB Fight Stick Preview Review]

It works with the VCS but it does not have 100% compatibility with all games.

[Atari VCS specific job opening]

6 hours ago, Mockduck said:

There's a part of me that thinks 2022 will be the last full year of support by Atari for the VCS; they'll keep it going through the 50th and then essentially be forced to shut things down unless business picks up (or unless I am simply wrong and they are in fact making enough money to keep things going.) However, if they are planning to ramp up external support by actually hiring someone, maybe that is a sign they plan to keep it around longer.

I would expect it to go much longer than you say since I don't think it costs too much to make the indie style games Atari is making and I think there is more profit than one might think in multiplatform sales.

 

They are releasing the games on VCS, Playstation, Xbox & Nintendo as far as I know so I don't know why they would stop making games anytime soon as long as they are turning profits on the game development which I believe they are.

 

As long as they are making games, there is no reason to abandon the VCS since they already have a dedicated niche community who buys games on the VCS.

[Gravitar: Recharged - (in VCS Store)]

44 minutes ago, negative1 said:

except the original never had a spinner.

 

it only had buttons for more precision when turning, and thrusting.

 

they already dumbed the game down to make it a lot easier already

with the controls too.

The spinner rotation on the classic joystick works great on Gravitar Recharged and is a truly unique experience that can't be done on any other platform.

 

Would be cool if they added a Button only control option for those like you who would want to play it that way on a modern controller with the 4 face buttons and triggers only without using the Analog sticks.  It might play pretty good that way too.

 

I am all for control options, the more the better.

[Gravitar: Recharged - (in VCS Store)]

7 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Yeah neat news. Immediate first impression is that while the gameplay fits with the classic arcade gravitar the general vibe is way more chill, and quite a bit more forgiving.

I agree and it results in the absolute best Recharged game to date.

 

Things are looking good in VCS land as I can only imagine that Atari is going to step up their game even further in the next few Recharged games.

 

Thanks Atari for including the Classic Joystick paddle/spinner ship rotation as it takes the game to a higher level of chill-awesomeness.

[Tail-Gunner - (in VCS Store)]

7 hours ago, killersquirel said:

Which trackball do you have?

it is a Bigtrack.

 

Works awesome on Centipede Recharged also.

 

 

[Gravitar: Recharged - (in VCS Store)]

1 hour ago, davpa said:

It is. The spinner works great on this game.

Very happy to hear that.

 

Thanks!

[Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop]

2 hours ago, davpa said:

I’m a game tester on the VCS (a very recent thing Atari has setup) and I can confirm that Gravitar: Recharged does use the spinner on the Classic Joystick. It plays fabulously with the Joystick,so much so I almost can’t play it with the Modern Controller. G:R is in my opinion the best of the Recharged line.

Awesome! Thanks for solving this all important question.

[Gravitar: Recharged - (in VCS Store)]

I really hope it has a control option to use the spinner controls to rotate the ship like in Asteroids & Thrustlander.

[Tail-Gunner - (in VCS Store)]

Tailgunner is one of very few games that support trackball on the VCS and it plays great with trackball.

 

We really need more trackball support on the VCS.

 

 

[BPM Boy (by RetroNinja) - (in VCS Store)]

I am really looking forward to this game and it looks outstanding.

 

I do very much hope for trackball support though please.

[Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop]

23 hours ago, Mockduck said:

I have a theory that in 2022 times Gamestop maybe has some kind of system in place where they essentially auto-clear out old stock, and also a system that re-stocks based on # of sales over a certain period, so that would explain why Gamestop would suddenly dump all of their VCS stock at below rock bottom prices then restock and try to sell at full price...

 

Then again, someone somewhere said they bet Gamestop meant to sell the Onyx All-In at $199 since they'd sold the standalone at $150 and typo'd it to $99, then never corrected it, and that too sounds totally plausible to me...

Yes it is very true that Gamestop will periodically clearance out items as I have bought things before from them at crazy low sale prices.

 

I do think that $99 was a ridiculously low price though and totally possible it was a mistake that was never corrected.

 

I also think there are quite a few people who are overreacting to this clearance by Gamestop since it is just like you said, a normal practice for them to do so.

 

 

[Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop]

On 5/4/2022 at 4:17 PM, Leonard Smith said:

How many games use the spinner anyway? 
I mean, apart from the obvious Tempest?  

Are rotary style games such as Ikari Warriors and Heavy Barrel on the VCS?  

Not enough games on the VCS utilize the spinner in my opinion and that is probably due to most of the games being developed also for other platforms that do not have a spinner function controller.

 

On the VCS the spinner can be used in Breakout Recharged, Asteroids Recharged, Black Widow Recharged, Thrustlander, Guntech and in many Vault games too.  It works great in my opinion on all of these games.

 

Hopefully the upcoming Gravitar Recharged uses the spinner to rotate the ship like in Thrustlander & Asteroids.

 

Having played Atari 2600 for over 40 years, I can't tell you how great it is for me to use the new Classic Joystick on new games and use the spinner feature which takes me back to the days of paddle games.

 

And yes I would really like to see a game like Ikari Warriors or Commando Recharged on the VCS using the spinner to rotate the character.

[Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop]

On 5/4/2022 at 1:49 PM, Bill Loguidice said:

Is the spinner really that important to the average consumer? I've heard mixed things about the joystick.

To the average consumer maybe not but because Atari has failed to promote the Classic Joystick and it's spinner function we may never know for sure.

 

I would say that it is a very innovative controller that takes the original Atari Joystick to new levels and shows that there is still a space in the gaming world for such a device.

 

Atari has not capitalized on this unique controller because they do not yet have enough games that support it's capabilities.

 

Not only the spinner but having the extra buttons on the classic joystick make it a very usable controller on many different games and it works quite well even for a platform game like Sigi.

 

Atari has also failed to provide Trackball support on some of their VCS games (Missile Command Recharged, Breakout Recharged) and even the Vault games on the VCS do not allow for Trackball controls when Steam Vault does.

[Onyx All In Bundle only $99.99 on GameStop]

The VCS console itself without any controllers is easily worth $200 for it's specs, Atari OS, mini pc versatility and build quality.

 

$250 with 1 Classic Joystick controller would seem to be the perfect price point to me.

 

The Classic Joystick Spinner function is the exclusive feature for the VCS that many people seem to be overlooking the importance of.

[Tempest 4000 (in VCS Store)]

Not sure why all the complaints in this thread as I recently purchased Tempest 4k on Atari VCS and it seems great to me with the Classic Joystick Spinner.

 

It did take me a few games to get used to the controls and to learn how to navigate the menus but after that it is a very enjoyable gameplay experience and the spinner seems to work quite well enough for me.

 

 

 

[VCS Classic Controller Discussions (various)]

On 1/4/2022 at 10:58 AM, Mockduck said:

Worth mentioning in this thread that Asteroids: Recharged is SUPER GREAT with the Classic using twist to rotate, A to fire (can hold down), B to thrust, and the back button for hyperspace. I'd love to see an option to use up to thrust and B for hyperspace myself, but it plays really well with the Classic. May be the best way to play the game, at least it was for me.

100 % agree it is the best way to play for sure.

 

I think Asteroids was always meant to play this way.

 

So So Good!