CV vs. 5200: Something else...

[CV Gus]

Homebrewing was brought up, which made me wonder: what about these things?

 

1) Memory expansion. Which of the two is easier to make expanded memory games for? Are there practical upper limits? If so, then what? How would the upper limits compare practically, since the two systems are different?

 

2) Opcode had already released MSX games on the CV. How hard is it to do this? Now, how does one release Atari 400 computer games on a 5200? Easier? Tougher?

 

3) Which is easier to get the hardware for to do these things?

 

 

There is also the question of controllers, but I covered that myself before, since controllers is the one technical area here I have some skill in. For regular within their spheres controllers, it is the CV, especially when building new joysticks. For more exotic ones, like steering, paddle, or lightgun controllers, the 5200 is easier to handle.

[opcode]

<sigh> Why don't you try to post this kind of discussing in the Classic Gaming General forum? Which kind of answer do you expect to get posting something like "machineX" vs 5200 in a 5200 specific forum? BTW, what is the point comparing the CV vs 5200 in 2009? There are fanatical followers for both sides, 5200 and CV, and you aren’t going to win over people from the 5200 camp (and vice-versa) based on theoretical discussion…

Just my 2 cents...

Edited July 9, 2009 by opcode

[CV Gus]

Well, it's because I never mentioned these things in my previous comparison. This post is, in effect, a continuation of that other one.

 

I'm curious about these things. We know MSX games can be put on a CV- obviously- but since a 5200 is "an Atari computer minus the keyboard," I've always wondered why more 5200 homebrewers aren't trying to bring more such games to the 5200. Is there some other factor, like memory blocks or expansion, involved? Keep in mind that the only programming experience I've had is with Commodore computers.

[atariksi]

Well, it's because I never mentioned these things in my previous comparison. This post is, in effect, a continuation of that other one.

 

I'm curious about these things. We know MSX games can be put on a CV- obviously- but since a 5200 is "an Atari computer minus the keyboard," I've always wondered why more 5200 homebrewers aren't trying to bring more such games to the 5200. Is there some other factor, like memory blocks or expansion, involved? Keep in mind that the only programming experience I've had is with Commodore computers.

 

There's also a PIA missing and a disk drive missing and a 10K/16K ROM OS missing.

[CV Gus]

Well, it's because I never mentioned these things in my previous comparison. This post is, in effect, a continuation of that other one.

 

I'm curious about these things. We know MSX games can be put on a CV- obviously- but since a 5200 is "an Atari computer minus the keyboard," I've always wondered why more 5200 homebrewers aren't trying to bring more such games to the 5200. Is there some other factor, like memory blocks or expansion, involved? Keep in mind that the only programming experience I've had is with Commodore computers.

 

There's also a PIA missing and a disk drive missing and a 10K/16K ROM OS missing.

 

 

There, you see? That's the sort of thing I'm trying to find out about!

But I don't know how much of a problem this would present. Does it make it next to impossible, or very difficult? What about the program (game) itself? A small game?

 

Would there be similar problems with MSX games?

[frogstar_robot]

There, you see? That's the sort of thing I'm trying to find out about!

But I don't know how much of a problem this would present. Does it make it next to impossible, or very difficult? What about the program (game) itself? A small game?

 

Would there be similar problems with MSX games?

 

The PIA and drive missing isn't as big a factor for the 400. The 400 was practically a game console. Yeah one can do disk based gaming on the 400 but I really don't think that was what Atari had in mind. The 400 seems more like an Odyssey2 on roids. There are a great many carts and smaller bin games that could be ported to the 5200 though ones that use OS calls could prove extra challenging. The PIA missing does mean that the control logic has to be completely redone. The PIA provided hardware support for digital sticks. With it lacking, POKEY reads the analog axes and GTIA is used to read button presses.

 

In principle there is no reason why scads of titles ported from the A8 couldn't be on it. The reality is that A8 computers are supersets of the 5200 and porting is less messy in that direction. Apart from Adventure 2, the entire 5200 library is available on the A8 and A8s can be had cheaply enough. Also porting games to the A8 generally means the 5200 titles get standard DB-9 digital joystick control by default. Few titles were improved by the 5200's analog sticks so the motivation is largely damped. Though 5200 Star Raiders has proportional steering and that sounds like a blast to play.