+Allan Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Hey all, Ever since people have been trying to figure out who programmed what for the classic game systems, it has been a mystery who programmed the un-released Atari 5200 Asteroids. The 8-bit (400/800) version of Asteroids seems to be where the 5200 version was ported from. Tod Frye, famous for programming 2600 Pacman, claims he programmed the 8-bit version but denies porting it to the 5200. No name has ever come up about who might have done the conversion. I have a theory who might have done the conversion. If you look at this interview with Atari game tester and programmer Harry Brown, ( http://www.digitpress.com/library/intervie...arry_brown.html ), he claims to have converted Steve Baker's 5200 Defender as well as others. His quote is "I also helped convert some 8-bit computer games to the Atari 5200, such as Defender. I didn't do much, just the controllers and getting it started from a different OS." Since Defender was an early game for the 5200 and Asteroids is listed in the earliest 5200 catalogs, Mr. Brown may very well be the person who did the conversion. Any thoughts welcome. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slampam Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 "I didn't do much, just the controllers and getting it started from a different OS." From what I've seen around here, the controllers are 90% of the hard work. These guys never took credit for converting A8s to 5200 because to them it was trivial busywork. I bet some of these guys (with full sources and labels) did it in half a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's very possible. Maybe someone can ask him? Lots of 5200 games were converted to the 8-bit and vice versa by a different programmer. Joe Copson ported Star Raiders to the 5200, Alan Moss Sr. ported Super Breakout to the 5200, etc. In fact Landon said he didn't remember doing a 5200 version of Super Pac-Man (only the 8-bit version) which means that someone else must have been porting it. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's very possible. Maybe someone can ask him? Lots of 5200 games were converted to the 8-bit and vice versa by a different programmer. Joe Copson ported Star Raiders to the 5200, Alan Moss Sr. ported Super Breakout to the 5200, etc. In fact Landon said he didn't remember doing a 5200 version of Super Pac-Man (only the 8-bit version) which means that someone else must have been porting it. Yup, that was common. Joe Hellesen at Roklan programmed Pac-Man for the 8-bits for Atari but did not convert it to the 5200...that was done internally by Jim Andreasen and Alan Murphy. In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 Joe Hellesen at Roklan programmed Pac-Man for the 8-bits for Atari but did not convert it to the 5200...that was done internally by Jim Andreasen and Alan Murphy. In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Wow, I didn't know this. Is this somewhere on the Web or just through a conversation with either Mr. Hellesen or someone else? Thanks, Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's very possible. Maybe someone can ask him? Lots of 5200 games were converted to the 8-bit and vice versa by a different programmer. Joe Copson ported Star Raiders to the 5200, Alan Moss Sr. ported Super Breakout to the 5200, etc. In fact Landon said he didn't remember doing a 5200 version of Super Pac-Man (only the 8-bit version) which means that someone else must have been porting it. Tempest That would be great if someone could ask Mr. Brown if he recalls any particlar game he converted other than Defender. It would also be nice if someone could confirm that Landon had started Crystal Castles for the 7800 like it says in the Digital Press book. I've never seen this mentioned anywhere except in that book. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Joe Hellesen at Roklan programmed Pac-Man for the 8-bits for Atari but did not convert it to the 5200...that was done internally by Jim Andreasen and Alan Murphy. In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Wow, I didn't know this. Is this somewhere on the Web or just through a conversation with either Mr. Hellesen or someone else? I have spoken with Joe H., but I think this is generally known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 I never knew about the speed increase in the 5200 version. I will have to look into that. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 Joe Hellesen at Roklan programmed Pac-Man for the 8-bits for Atari but did not convert it to the 5200...that was done internally by Jim Andreasen and Alan Murphy. In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Wow, I didn't know this. Is this somewhere on the Web or just through a conversation with either Mr. Hellesen or someone else? I have spoken with Joe H., but I think this is generally known. Thanks. I never caught that. I updated my 5200 list. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 I wonder what other 5200 games have been credit to be written from scratch to programmers who just did the conversion part? Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 (edited) I never knew about the speed increase in the 5200 version. I will have to look into that. I could very well be wrong, it just seems slightly faster to me. Also, I've heard that the intermissions may have in fact been in the 8-bit port originally but were removed due to cartridge memory limitations. Supposedly some of the sounds are different as well. Either way, the point is that the two versions were done by different programmers and are slightly different. Edited April 9, 2009 by PingvinBlueJeans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Are you sure the intermissions were written from scratch for the 5200 version? I always thought the Atari 8-bit cartridge release was originally 16K and the intermissions were removed so the game could fit in 8K. -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 It's very possible. Maybe someone can ask him? Lots of 5200 games were converted to the 8-bit and vice versa by a different programmer. Joe Copson ported Star Raiders to the 5200, Alan Moss Sr. ported Super Breakout to the 5200, etc. In fact Landon said he didn't remember doing a 5200 version of Super Pac-Man (only the 8-bit version) which means that someone else must have been porting it. Tempest Landon programmed both versions. His source code was set to compile for either machine based on the options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Are you sure the intermissions were written from scratch for the 5200 version? I always thought the Atari 8-bit cartridge release was originally 16K and the intermissions were removed so the game could fit in 8K. Read my last post above...I'm not sure of anything. My problem with the theory that the intermissions were in the 8-bit port to begin with is partially the fact that Alan Murphy is credited with doing graphics for the 5200 port. If the intermissions were already in there and they were doing a straight conversion, what 'graphics' would he have needed to create? Normally I'd say that it's a possibility that the 5200 version came first, but unless I'm mistaken that's not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Landon programmed both versions. His source code was set to compile for either machine based on the options. Odd, because he told me that he didn't recall doing the 5200 version and was surprised I had a prototype of it. Maybe he meant that he didnt think anyone burned it onto a EPROM cartridge? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Read my last post above...I'm not sure of anything. My problem with the theory that the intermissions were in the 8-bit port to begin with is partially the fact that Alan Murphy is credited with doing graphics for the 5200 port. If the intermissions were already in there and they were doing a straight conversion, what 'graphics' would he have needed to create? Oops... Seems you responded while I was replying as well... -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Landon programmed both versions. His source code was set to compile for either machine based on the options. Odd, because he told me that he didn't recall doing the 5200 version and was surprised I had a prototype of it. Maybe he meant that he didnt think anyone burned it onto a EPROM cartridge? Tempest Probably, he was the only name listed on his final source listing which I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Ok, wait a minute. Asteroids has intermissions? What levels do they appear between? Anyone have any youtube videos of them? I sucked at the arcade version as a kid and never got past level one, and I haven't played the 5200 proto very much either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamerz Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Tod Frye, famous for programming 2600 Pacman Sorry to butt in but shouldnt this read "infamous"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 Tod Frye, famous for programming 2600 Pacman Sorry to butt in but shouldnt this read "infamous"? It could be but it can also be famous. I was being nice and also it was not his fault completely with how it turned out. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 In that case, in addition to converting the game to the 5200 control scheme, they also increased the speed of the game and added the intermissions from the arcade game. Are you sure the intermissions were written from scratch for the 5200 version? I always thought the Atari 8-bit cartridge release was originally 16K and the intermissions were removed so the game could fit in 8K. Read my last post above...I'm not sure of anything. My problem with the theory that the intermissions were in the 8-bit port to begin with is partially the fact that Alan Murphy is credited with doing graphics for the 5200 port. If the intermissions were already in there and they were doing a straight conversion, what 'graphics' would he have needed to create? Normally I'd say that it's a possibility that the 5200 version came first, but unless I'm mistaken that's not the case. Update: According to the programmer, the original 8-bit port of Pac-Man was 8K and did not have the intermissions. If there's a 16K (disk) version that has them, this was created later by someone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Asteroids has intermissions? What levels do they appear between? Anyone have any youtube videos of them? It would be nice if someone would answer my question. I've spent several hours googling this, and ain't found jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Update: According to the programmer, the original 8-bit port of Pac-Man was 8K and did not have the intermissions. If there's a 16K (disk) version that has them, this was created later by someone else. Interesting... That would mean the Datasoft release is actually a hack of the 5200 version then. -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsiddall Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Asteroids has intermissions? What levels do they appear between? Anyone have any youtube videos of them? It would be nice if someone would answer my question. I've spent several hours googling this, and ain't found jack. No arcade intermissions in Asteroids...I own an upright cabinet and the only thing close might be the attract mode. I think you've confused their Pac-Man/Super Pac-Man discussion somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 No arcade intermissions in Asteroids...I own an upright cabinet and the only thing close might be the attract mode. Thank you. I think you've confused their Pac-Man/Super Pac-Man discussion somehow. Very likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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