phuzaxeman

March 7, 2023

This is amazing. I'd pay for one.

February 16, 2023

14 hours ago, Keatah said:

It will. I don't care how many times a 5200 controller is rebuilt with how many parts this and that from Bust'o'lectronics.. It still sucks.

I loved Atari 400/800 Defender. I liked the sharp fast response of the digital controls in a regular joystick. Never mind having to use the keyboard for SmartBomb and Hyperspace. It was never an issue. As the game got more intense and ramped up I would simply naturally start hovering over the keyboard ready to jam it!

I liked the crisp micro-switch and fast-acting switches of less sophisticated 2600 "digital" sticks. The shorter the throw the better. And the tactile keyboard was miles ahead. It told you you had engaged your special power in no uncertain terms. I could quickly get back to figuring out what to do next. Resting at peace knowing I was on my way and everything was taken care of. Knowing instantly the machine was going to do its thing rather than me waiting to actually see that response on screen.

The 5200 controllers were ill-defined elastomeric slushboxes with a rubbery response that slowed down my game significantly. Always had to worry about pressing rubber through an overlay. Or worry about wasting time by over-pressing a button for too long a time to ensure it was activated.

When you drill down into how to improve your high score things like that make a big difference.

Sucks for you. If the sticks were bad for everyone then I wouldn't be holding Atari age records on Super Breakout, Galaxian, and Centipede. Defender was always a spilt second late ony XL which the 5200 sticks soleves.

February 15, 2023

On 1/11/2023 at 6:08 PM, Keatah said:

Defender
Centipede
Pac-Man
Star Raiders
Countermeasure
Miner 2049'er
Missile Command
Qix
Galaxian
Pole Position

These were staples of our gaming sessions when were in the arcade mood. Always played them on the 400/800 for reliability reasons however. And the crisp responsive digital controllers which were cheaply available and easily fixed or replaced if we broke them. The 5200's controller's were impossible for a kid to fix - short of remaking and re-wiring everything into a new custom box.

Other than 2049, the 5200 controls and versions were better than the 8bit. Analog controls /keypad/extra buttons were such an advantage on games like Defender, Centipede, and Galaxian.

February 15, 2023

2 hours ago, leech said:

I don't think I've tried RealSports Baseball on the 5200. Though the 8bit Atari computers had quite a few awesome Baseball games. Micro League Baseball and Hardball were my favorites. Not sure if either of those were ever released on the 5200 though.

Hardball was awesome. It was ground breaking because it used real players and the view was in 3d. However, it came out a few years later on the 8bit.

I also liked 8bit Gamestar Baseball which was from the sideview. What was cool with that game was the speed was realistic.

I never got into Micro League because it was more gameplay and coaching than arcade.

February 14, 2023

32 minutes ago, BIGHMW said:

Part of that quote is why I reacquired my XEGS and also the 7800 because I knew that nobody wants to cooperate with providing the 5200 community with some great titles that otherwise would still not be available to them, don't forget only 69 titles were ever released for Big Sexy, if it weren't for those 3 guys as well as the many geniuses here on AA with their homebrews and my constant lobbying we would still only have 69 titles as opposed to almost 500 of them.

So by not giving the 5200 community more conversions from the 8bit, programmers are not "cooperating" with your idea that they should be offering the 5200 more titles? Lol. Ok.

I have an 8bit. I don't need to request any conversions from the 8bit titles. And I'll continue to purchase the 5200 homebrews and support the programmers that create titles for the 5200.

Your 'constant lobbying' and asking programmers to do your free work is doing more disrespect than helping the community.

February 14, 2023

On 2/8/2023 at 5:33 PM, MrFish said:

Centipede

Countermeasure

Defender

Galaxian

Missile Command

Pac-Man

Qix

RealSports Football

RealSports Soccer

Space Invaders

Star Raiders

Super Breakout

If you're going to include Realsports games, 5200 Realsports Baseball is one of the greatest if not the best baseball game in that era.

You had analog controls that gave you the option to bunt. The keypad to throw various pitches. A top button and bottom buttons to throw and select fielders. Plus the ump had a voice. The graphics were also stellar. One of the best games on the 5200. Better than the 7800 too.

February 14, 2023

On 2/8/2023 at 5:33 PM, MrFish said:

Centipede

Countermeasure

Defender

Galaxian

Missile Command

Pac-Man

Qix

RealSports Football

RealSports Soccer

Space Invaders

Star Raiders

Super Breakout

If you're going to include Realsports games, 5200 Realsports Baseball is one of the greatest if not the best baseball game in that era.

You had analog controls that gave you the option to bunt. The keypad to throw various pitches. A top button and bottom buttons to throw and select fielders. Plus the ump had a voice. The graphics were also stellar. One of the best games on the 5200. Better than the 7800 too.

February 14, 2023

1 hour ago, BIGHMW said:

5200 Super Breakout was indeed better than the A8/XEGS version, now as far as getting a 5200 port of Arkanoid, in another thread on this very forum I losted a ROM of a qualified-enough port for the A8/XEGS in which I thought that maybe SOMEONE would kindly port over to the 5200, but didn't even bother to, and that one was one called Crack-Up! I will post the ROM once again and see if anyone (perhaps @Wrathchild or @playsoft or @classics ) wants to take a crack at perhaps doing a conversion for those who aren't fortunate to have both a 5200 and an XEGS like I now (once again) do.

Crack-Up !.xex 14.9 kB · 0 downloads

I'm not interested in porting the 8bit version to the 5200.

Remember you said you would stop asking developers to make 5200 ports? Did you forget?

I'm talking about playing the arcade version. I suppose I could buy an adapter for my modern VCS/PC and play it on mame.

February 14, 2023

On 2/9/2023 at 12:26 AM, MrFish said:

Yes, I got your point in the conversation.

TBH, I'm not fond of breakout-type games to start with. From the 2600 days, I found Breakout interesting, and fun for short sessions; but not much there to hold interest. Super Breakout, of course, improves on the theme in terms of variety; but one thing I don't like about it is that the paddle shrinks at the same time the ball is speeding up. OK, the difficulty is challenging, but it seems to ramp up a bit too quick; making it a little frustrating to play, for me. Maybe if the paddle only decreased to 2/3 the size it would be better, rather than 1/2 the paddle size. I haven't played it on the 5200 (just played on 8-bit computer with paddle controllers), so I can't comment directly on that; but I've listened to a couple reviews for the game; and the main things they seem to be pointing out is that they would prefer to use paddles for controlling it; although they do like the game, and concede that playing it decently on the 5200 is possible using the sticks, with practice.

To be clear, I don't think Super Breakout is a bad game, just a bad pack-in choice in light of other games of the time that Atari could/should have used.

Generally speaking, I prefer Arkanoid and other similar types of Breakout games, of which there are many on the Atari 8-bit computers; but I even get tired of playing them pretty quickly. Maybe I prefer breaking bricks Super Mario style.

In 82, using analog sticks for breakout was pretty amazing in its time.

What made 5200 Super Breakout really fun was how the bricks decimate after being hit and the sound effects with the quick intro melody were really cool. The colors were deep and the after the game comment ratings that tell you "ace" or "novice" was gratifying.

I would love to play arkanoid using the 5200 sticks.

To each their own. I know people that grew up on the system share my sentiments. It's a shame Atari didn't support the 5200 properly.

Imagine a 5200 that already was already 2600 compatible, sticks were more reliable, and the pack in game started with Pac Man?

Great times.

February 9, 2023

20 hours ago, MrFish said:

For what, helping them get ready to fall sleep?

I wasn't disparaging the 5200 as a system; didn't say anything about it. I was talking about games, and particularly Super Breakout as a pack-in choice.

I don't disagree with you that super breakout was not the right choice for a pack in game to sell the system.

However, super breakout is still an awesome game. It's the best breakout version in that era imo.

February 8, 2023

On 1/26/2023 at 1:04 AM, patroclus99 said:

If I had a nice A-8 computer and collection, I would be content with that. Plus, the A-8s seem less... problematic.

My experience with the 5200 is that it needs constant TLC; it was a lousyly put-together product from the get-go. There is always something wrong with this thing. I just got done soldering sockets for the controller chips, they are very failure prone, now i can just swap them out . And, although I haven't done a comprehensive trace, I feel like the voltage is erratic across the board. It lacks the solid performance and reliability of its predecessor. It also has crappy 'fit and finish'; the form-factor is cool, but it's flimsy and brittle. No need to discuss the controllers, that's a dead horse. Once you've rebuilt them with the quality components, they're great. But, the potentiometers will need to be refurbished at some point, as the carbon-coating deteriorates. It's all very... off-the-shelf, but that's what kind of makes it interesting.

Activision cartridges are problematic; the cartridge-board and contacts do not align with the console cartridge-port; I had to solder some light beads on the cartridge-pins to get them to work reliability.

I'm over 10 yrs with my gold dot and flex upgrade. I've broken a few 2600 sticks in that time.

I also don't own carts except for homebrews or special games like Tempest. Literally have not had to do anything for over a decade in terms of fixing something.

February 8, 2023

23 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Sorry, but Breakout was meant to be played on paddles, not an analog "thumb stick", so I posit that the 400/800 version (and 2600 even) using paddles played better. Still analog control, more precise, and the shape of the arcade controls. It's the difference between playing Tempest with a proper sinner vs. a mouse.

Not for me. The 5200 isn't a thumb stick for me either.

5200 super breakout blows the 8bit and 2600 paddle versions.

Same thing for the analog sticks on 5200 galaxian and centipede.

I'll take anyone using trackballs or digital sticks those games.

I have the scores to prove it. Some people know how to use the 5200 sticks.

And I am an avid 8bit user since the 800xl released.

February 8, 2023

15 minutes ago, AtariBrian said:

Said nobody, ever!!!!!!!!

Said the people that grew up on the system. I've got the scores to back it up too.

February 8, 2023

4 hours ago, MrFish said:

According to Wikipedia, these were the games Atari released in 1982. Almost any one of these would have been more of a draw to help sell systems than Super Breakout.

Prime choices would have been Pac-Man, Star Raiders, and maybe Centipede or Defender after that.

Along with Breakout, I'd say Space Invaders would be second on the list to NOT include as a pack-in; mainly because it was becoming irrelevant by 1982 -- which is exactly why a Breakout game made no sense. Neither would be much help in selling systems.

Centipede 1982   Atari, Inc.
Countermeasure 1982   Atari, Inc.
Defender           1982   Atari, Inc.
Galaxian           1982   Atari, Inc.
Missile Command 1982   Atari, Inc.
Pac-Man 1982   Atari, Inc.
Qix 1982   Atari, Inc.
Space Invaders 1982   Atari, Inc.
Star Raiders       1982   Atari, Inc.
Super Breakout 1982   Atari, Inc.

I suppose they were counting on interest in the system itself to be the selling point. I mean, it was Atari's followup to the hugely successful 2600, right? The 2600 came with a great pack-in, that was amazing in it's time, though: Combat. Super Breakout wasn't so amazing -- at least in 1982...

The Super Breakout selling point was having the whole family play with four players. Other consoles couldn't do four players.

Obviously Atari didn't follow through and the concept flopped.

A lot of innovation ideas

on the 5200 (analog sticks, four players, pause and reset on controllers, dual coupler, advanced track ball). Unfortunately, things didn't work out. It's still my favorite console of all time.

February 8, 2023

On 2/1/2023 at 2:27 PM, Crazy Climber said:

Yeah, maybe you two like it but I would say you are in the minority....maybe not here on atariage but for the average 1983 living room Super Breakout was an awful pack in choice (in my opinion)

Lets be real here....

Breakout in any form was meant to be played with paddles.

The 5200 controller is not a paddle

Packing in a game (that should be played with paddles) for a system that has a controller that many people (myself included) found "awkward" to say the least, was a terrible, terrible idea.

Yes, it should have been Pac Man.

5200 Super Breakout was meant to play on the 5200 analog sticks. It was amazing in 1982. It IMHO is the best version of breakout of all time.

Was it the right game to sell the console? No, PacMan should have been since day 1. But Super Breakout is an amazing game. Definitely my top 5 5200 title for me.

February 4, 2023

On 1/28/2023 at 2:12 PM, MrFish said:

I don't recall hearing this before; but, if it's the case, I'm sure any issues could/would be remedied -- if they haven't already.

Yeah, the other thing about playing Space Dungeon on the 5200 dual sticks with the coupler is the experience itself. In 83, it was such an amazing thing to experience. Nobody used the dual sticks in that era on a home console.

January 24, 2023

7 minutes ago, BIGHMW said:

Well that might make me think twice about getting the XEGS with my income tax refund in which I'll be filing for even though I just got both of my W2's/1090's from my work at Safeway and also from Social Security and just getting the gear for my 5200 and ColecoVision instead of getting the 7800 repaired as well as acquiring the XEGS, in which I wanted to do both of so I can being back The Atari Report, and just merely doing "ColecoVision EXTRA!" next month and continuing to do episodes of The Atari 5200 SuperReport in which I'll be filming this week instead. As for the 2600 games maybe I also should also ditch the Flashback 9's also and get my 2600 adapter fixed as well, that would be a more economical way of doing things, just support the ColecoVision and the 5200 and ditch the rest!!!

I play all the atari consoles minus the 5200 on the newer VCS. I also emulated Sega master and Colecovision.

It's neat to have in all in one Atari console.

January 24, 2023

There's also a conversion of 8bit Pengo. The conversion left the music to be only 1 voice.

The 5200 music had multiple voices.

Space Dungeon I read somewhere was a little glitchy on the 8bit.

January 24, 2023

On 1/18/2023 at 8:29 AM, RockLobster said:

Not only were the graphics more detailed on the 5200 version but the movement of the centipede itself was much smoother.

Perhaps I worded my question incorrectly but outside of versions of the same game, does the converted 5200 game play the same as a 5200 would?

Games like centipede, baseball, and countermeasure do not play the same because of the analog controls.

For example, to bunt on the 5200 baseball, you move the stick half way. You couldn't do that on 8bit.

On Countermeasure, you control a tank. To rotate the cannon, you need the top button. The bottom button shoots.

On Intellidiscs Tron, you use the joystick and keypad which pays homage to the Intellivision controls. You can't do that configuration on an 8bit.

The gameplay changes with analog controls which makes owning the 5200 worth it.

January 4, 2023

9 minutes ago, GoldenWheels said:

PS controls? As in PlayStation, or something else?

According to Best Electric, most of the PS2, Nintendo, Sega and Most PC Joysticks use the same type of internal designs pioneered by Atari Engineering on the CX52 Joysticks.

Flexible Circuits, Silicone pads with Carbon Dot contacts and Analog Potentiometers (Pots) for X Y Movement (PC Joysticks) are now industry standard type of construction today.

The 5200 had also a dedicated start, pause, and reset button. That was a big deal in 82.

January 4, 2023

2 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

But...you had to rebuild it in the first place, with upgraded parts, because it was basically designed to be broken. It's also not a comfortable controller to use (IMO of course, but then I don't like any of the vertical format controllers like 5200, 7800, Coleco, Inty).

Whereas I would bet we all have a lifetime's worth of controllers that would work on an 8 bit. And in my experience....they are tank like in durability, and simple as pie to do ANYTHING with. And if you don't have one, a working one is like 8 bucks.

I can't argue with feeling that the very small amount of analog games make it worth it, that's personal in how you feel about those games.

The 5200 controllers were the most comfortable controls in that era for me.

I'm not denying the reliability of the controls but they were good controls and advanced for it's time. The set the foundation for the PS controls.

I'm an avid 8bit fan but the experience on the 5200 is different. For example, playing analog controls on Star Wars in 83 was pretty amazing.

January 4, 2023

On 12/30/2022 at 1:04 PM, GoldenWheels said:

Had an XE as a kid. Did not have a 5200. I have both now. I don't THINK I am too nostalgic for the A8s but I throw that our for perspective.

I'd take the XE over the 5200 all day, every day. Controller issue alone is enough IMO to swing the argument. Yes, there's more options now, which is great! But they also significantly raise the price of entry.

My rebuilt 5200 sticks with gold dots, flex circuits, and new buttons has made my controllers working great for over a decade. I've broken more 2600 and 2600 stick replicas in that time.

January 4, 2023

I used the 5200 like crazy from 82-84. 84 into the 90s was all Atari 8bit.

With that said, the experience is different on 5200. Playing Space Dungeon on the dual sticks with a coupler or Centipede with the trackball is what makes the 5200 shine. Using the whole analog sticks with the keypad playing Real Sports baseball or Star Raiders is going to be an experience no 8bit will be able replicate.

The 5200 is worth owning.

December 13, 2022

7 hours ago, davpa said:

You mean like this?

I know it looks as if the VCS is not a priority, but all I can say that it is. It is for me, that is for sure. A few things happened with Atari 50 when it comes to the VCS, some of it we are still dealing with.

This is a new platform for Digital Eclipse (DE) to work with. DE does a lot of great work across a lot of platforms, but this is the first time they are working with the VCS and the AtariOS. Some things didn't go the way they thought it would. I'm sure there was a little bit of hubris at work there too. Oh, it is just Linux, no problem. DE works with their own custom game engine and so they needed to do various porting to the VCS, like they do for all platforms. When they want to port over to Switch or Xbox or whatever, they have pipelines and knowledge on how to do these connections to the platform. They didn't have those for the VCS being the first time working with it. What was hurt DE even more is the main engineer, their resident Linux guru, was removed from the project late in the game due to a major personal issue. So all the work that was going to be done by this one guy was now no longer part of the plan, so that seriously delayed things.

This collection is the biggest thing the VCS has to date. To be honest, the VCS was never designed to deal with this large of a size bundle. We learned a lot of painful lessons during this. The VCS, back in 2018/19, was designed for AA or Indie games, something on the smaller size when compared to a lot of AAA games. The backend has had to have some major tweaks and greasing of the sides to squeeze Atari 50 through. For example, I was having a hell of a time downloading the game onto my VCS. No matter what I did, the VCS would time out and fail to install Atari 50. It was driving me nuts. My other testers were downloading the game but I couldn't. For a time I thought so many wild things as to figure out what could be wrong. Finally, after much trial and error, I found that the VCS hates my D-Link 8-port Ethernet Switch. Something with that on my network caused the VCS to eventually time out and never complete the download. Still not sure why that is. We've kept running into oddball things like that that slowed us down in developing and testing Atari 50. I've got a huge playbook for when people come back and say "hey, I can't download Atari 50."

So the good news is that after a lot of issues, the Atari 50 is soooo close to being sent out to the VCS. I'm QA testing the hell out of it, even as I'm typing this now. One or two things need to get fixed but it appears any large bugs are gone and it is a very smooth experience. Does this make up for the fact that it didn't release with the rest of the consoles? Hell no. It f-ing sucks it didn't. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is happy about this. This is not an "eh, it is just the VCS, who cares" feeling around Atari. It has been really difficult. Games get delayed all the time, sometimes things happen. We thought about delaying all the platforms until we were able to release all of them at the same time, but ultimately that didn't win out. We had obligations with partners to get Atari 50 released. As much as we wanted the VCS to be part of it we couldn't hold off the other platforms due to other obligations.

I'm sure you and a lot of people will dismiss what I say and believe that the VCS is a low priority or that this is a sign that the VCS is being phased out. It is ok, I get it. We've had a bumpy track record so far. I'll just say that the VCS is not a low priority for me. It is not a low priority for the people I work with. Atari 50 and the VCS got a bad couple of breaks that didn't fall our way. We are continuing on developing games and making new hardware accessories for the VCS which I hope will make it out of development and expand the use and functionality of the VCS. I'm personally working on getting game developers to put new games on the VCS. This month alone I've signed up 10 developers to put new games on the VCS. Hopefully those will pan out.

I'll just close this with "Thank you for your patience while we get Atari 50 to the VCS."

Thanks for the update. It's good to know someone is on the lookout for the VCS.

I hope Atari can learn from this situation.

Hopefully, I don't play Atari 50 for the first time in 2023.

December 9, 2022

On 12/4/2022 at 6:42 PM, davpa said:

Hey everyone! It has been a hot minute since I was lurking in the forums. Last time I was chatting (6-ish months ago?) I said I was working closely with Atari on a project or two. Well, that got a little closer as I now work for Atari. I am working on the Marketing and Development of the Atari VCS for the last 3 months. What does this mean? Well, I'm actively talking and arranging new Developers to put their games on the VCS, supporting current Developers with their current and new games being developed, and generally answering questions when I can. I lead a team of QA testers for games in the VCS (which I have dubbed Team Gremlin), I just wish I was on that job before Tempest 4000 released. I'm also the head mod at the VCS Discord.

So in an effort to be as transparent as possible, these are the places you can find and get a hold of me:

AtariAge...duh. I'll be honest, I'm not frequent here so this is not the best place to get a hold of me if you need something urgently. I'll do better in being a presence.

Discord. I am the main Moderator over in the Official VCS Discord (https://discord.gg/atarivcs) and I'm @davpa#8687. I occupy this space the most as it is part of my job. Even before that I was in it all the time.

Email. Yeah, emails still exist and I still use it. If you want to email me with anything more official, like you have a game you'd be interesting in having on the VCS, email me at david.paige@atari.com I ask kindly not to troll me there, please.

Facebook. I'm popping in on the Atari VCS Supporters, Backers, Developers, and enthusiasts group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2513120825651652/) to update on news as much as I can. I tend not to use Facebook anymore so I don't visit this section as much as I should, probably, but I'm there.

Ok, so there we go. Now you have a face to blame when the VCS doesn't get your morning slippers for you or solves the World Peace problem. I'll also do my best to visit here more regularly from now on with info I get and share it with everyone. Sometimes things are in development so I have to see how something is going to pan out or need more information, so I usually wait to provide facts rather than just knee-jerk speculation or make believe thoughts. I think we had a few years too many of that kind of action on these forms that I don't want to follow that example.

Most of all, I'm interesting in your opinions, negative or positive. All I ask is that you be civil with negative opinions. We can learn from our mistakes and what we can do better, but those learning opportunities are missed when it is presented with hostility. I'm not the guy that gave you a wedgey in the 2nd grade or the guy that cut you off in traffic, so don't treat me that way. Allow me the opportunity to find my own unique way to piss you off so you can hate me, that is all I ask!