Comments on some 5200 games

[+cvga]

I recently hooked up my 5200 and have been having a great time playing its games. Like many other people, although I have several joysticks, none of them appeared to be working 100% so I've been using my Masterplay Interface with a TAC-2 controller. For the most part that's worked well. What do you use for your controller?

 

Here's a quick summary of what I've been playing with some comments...

 

Space Invaders - I had never played the 5200 version before. I didn't realize that it's so much different than the 2600 or the arcade. I couldn't decide which version I like best.

 

MegaMania - I like the 5200 version although it's nearly identical to the 2600. I still get stuck on the second wave of space dice. Oh, and are those irons (2600) or mixers (5200)?

 

Qix - I love this game but my guy (is he the Qix or is the enemy the Qix) kept getting stuck in the upper left-hand corner. I'm sure it's controller related although I never have an issue with this controller on the 2600.

 

Beamrider - This is my favorite game for the 2600 but I was disappointed with it on the 5200. I had to use the extra button with the masterplay interface to shoot at the mother ship. I much prefer to press up on the joystick.

 

Ms. Pac-man - Good conversion but I wish they would have sped this game up!

 

Galaxian - I probably prefer the 2600 but the 5200 version if very playable.

[bohoki]

I recently hooked up my 5200 and have been having a great time playing its games. Like many other people, although I have several joysticks, none of them appeared to be working 100% so I've been using my Masterplay Interface with a TAC-2 controller. For the most part that's worked well. What do you use for your controller?

 

Here's a quick summary of what I've been playing with some comments...

 

Space Invaders - I had never played the 5200 version before. I didn't realize that it's so much different than the 2600 or the arcade. I couldn't decide which version I like best.

 

MegaMania - I like the 5200 version although it's nearly identical to the 2600. I still get stuck on the second wave of space dice. Oh, and are those irons (2600) or mixers (5200)?

 

Qix - I love this game but my guy (is he the Qix or is the enemy the Qix) kept getting stuck in the upper left-hand corner. I'm sure it's controller related although I never have an issue with this controller on the 2600.

 

Beamrider - This is my favorite game for the 2600 but I was disappointed with it on the 5200. I had to use the extra button with the masterplay interface to shoot at the mother ship. I much prefer to press up on the joystick.

 

Ms. Pac-man - Good conversion but I wish they would have sped this game up!

 

Galaxian - I probably prefer the 2600 but the 5200 version if very playable.

 

space invaders got a touch of upgrade being that after a few levels the enemys kind of turn into shimmering angels although the mobile launcher we ride in seems excessivly wide for firing such a thin beam it should be as wide as a pencil eraser considering the saddlebags you have to deal with

 

qix is the badguy read the manual, little annoying things are called sparx

is it just me or does anybody else just make a little pillar in the middle then do a nice slow line to close off the big section also dont split the quix more than 9 times or the multiplier drops back to 1x

 

 

all the activision games are basically as close to identical to the 2600 as is possible

 

as with beamriders controls i guess you hate moonpatrol and choplifter too

choplifter is an annoying beast first the tanks then the jets then the suicide sattellittees then the firing sattelites

 

 

galaxian is decent the use of the blaster beam on the front of the ship as a sword is not in the arcade version

[Charlie_]

The activision games are mostly straight ported to the 5200 however I think they are much better.

 

I don't know if its the smoothness of the game play or something else but I'd play Pitfall! Keystone Kapers or Kaboom on the 5200 anyday over the 2600 versions.

[ataridoctor]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions. Thats my next project . my new megatroller is great for most games but kaboom is better on the 2600 with a paddle. Also love river raid never knew this game was out there havent used my 5200 for years and now i find out there were alot of games , aftermarket controllers and the vcs adapter. The 5200 is so much better than the 2600 like Zaxxon. Its great on the 5200 and its a joke on the 2600. How bout 7800 games are those any better than 5200 games although it doesnt look like pacman and some of the arcade greats were made for that.

Edited September 24, 2009 by ataridoctor

[Bill Loguidice]

Activision rarely enhanced their Atari 2600 games much for other platforms, though they did occasionally improve the graphics and sound somewhat. Imagic was very good with ports that took better advantage of the target platform. Different philosophies I guess.

Edited September 24, 2009 by Bill_Loguidice

[bohoki]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions. Thats my next project . my new megatroller is great for most games but kaboom is better on the 2600 with a paddle. Also love river raid never knew this game was out there havent used my 5200 for years and now i find out there were alot of games , aftermarket controllers and the vcs adapter. The 5200 is so much better than the 2600 like Zaxxon. Its great on the 5200 and its a joke on the 2600. How bout 7800 games are those any better than 5200 games although it doesnt look like pacman and some of the arcade greats were made for that.

 

 

i play kaboom with the h pot on my homemade unit

every time(all 3 times) ive made my controllers with the pots i find out i wire them backwards and have to redo it

to make clockwise be right and counter clockwise be left i feel so retarded every time i do it because inside the box i'mm looking at the pot from its butt you would think the first time its ok and the second on you forgot but the third time i must have a gremlin in my brain

 

i rigged up an adapter to use 2600 paddles as teh stick and button and guess what they are freakin backwards too

[Gabriel]

I recently hooked up my 5200 and have been having a great time playing its games. Like many other people, although I have several joysticks, none of them appeared to be working 100% so I've been using my Masterplay Interface with a TAC-2 controller. For the most part that's worked well. What do you use for your controller?

 

Sometimes I use stock. Other times I use the 2600 controller adapter AtariAge used to sell along with either a Atari Flashback 2 stick, a Genesis 3-button pad, a Genesis 6 button SG Fighter stick, or a Genesis Quickshot flight stick. If I'm playing Missile Command, Centipede, or Millipede, I use my 5200 Track Ball.

 

 

Space Invaders - I had never played the 5200 version before. I didn't realize that it's so much different than the 2600 or the arcade. I couldn't decide which version I like best.

 

Not really a very good version, but is about par for course with most pre-CV/5200 ports of the era. It would have made a better pack in than Super Breakout.

 

MegaMania - I like the 5200 version although it's nearly identical to the 2600. I still get stuck on the second wave of space dice. Oh, and are those irons (2600) or mixers (5200)?

 

I prefer this one over the 2600 version. Fuel runs out faster, thus making it more important and giving the game much more of a "mania" feel. The graphical touchups also make all the difference.

 

Qix - I love this game but my guy (is he the Qix or is the enemy the Qix) kept getting stuck in the upper left-hand corner. I'm sure it's controller related although I never have an issue with this controller on the 2600.

 

The Qix is the enemy multicolored thing. I used to love this game as a teen. I played it all the time. But since I got my replacement 5200 a few years ago, I've barely played it or had much desire to.

 

Still, it's a good game.

 

Beamrider - This is my favorite game for the 2600 but I was disappointed with it on the 5200. I had to use the extra button with the masterplay interface to shoot at the mother ship. I much prefer to press up on the joystick.

 

I don't think I've ever played this on the 5200. I recall playing the C64 version years ago and not liking it at all.

 

Ms. Pac-man - Good conversion but I wish they would have sped this game up!

 

A very nice version of the arcade game. I wish I could have gotten this back in the day. It's not as spiffy as some modern homebrews, but it seems to have been damn fine for when it was released.

 

Galaxian - I probably prefer the 2600 but the 5200 version if very playable.

 

This is not terribly faithful to the arcade game, but it does acceptably look the part, and it nails the basics fairly well. The aliens in this game act like they're on crack, but that just livens what was a rather staid arcade game up. I wanted this back in the day, but never had the resources to get it. Playing it as an adult, I don't think it's bad at all. I probably would have greatly enjoyed it. I boot it up sometimes when I'm not in the mood for Defender, Star Raiders, or Star Trek.

[Charlie_]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions.

[ataridoctor]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions.

OK THATS WHAT I WANT !!!! Where did you get it or how do you make 1 ? Do you know what was done ? I want to make 2 of them I was thinking about putting a jack in my megatroller to interrupt the left right and have a 2600 paddle control. Will that work with Pole Position? if so how do you shift from low to high? Help me on this one guys. The 5200 is awesome with the right controllers. The Megatroller(starcon clone) i made is fantastic on most games. Pacman is great but its no good for Kaboom. You gotta have a paddle control. Im leaning to the plug in 2600 paddle controller does anyone know what the ohm value of a 2600 paddle control? is it 500k ohm? Thanks Paul

Edited September 25, 2009 by ataridoctor

[Charlie_]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions.

OK THATS WHAT I WANT !!!! Where did you get it or how do you make 1 ? Do you know what was done ? I want to make 2 of them I was thinking about putting a jack in my megatroller to interrupt the left right and have a 2600 paddle control. Will that work with Pole Position? if so how do you shift from low to high? Help me on this one guys. The 5200 is awesome with the right controllers. The Megatroller(starcon clone) i made is fantastic on most games. Pacman is great but its no good for Kaboom. You gotta have a paddle control. Im leaning to the plug in 2600 paddle controller does anyone know what the ohm value of a 2600 paddle control? is it 500k ohm? Thanks Paul

 

Just get a sacrificial set of 2600 paddles. Use the pots and knobs from them in the 5200 controller.

You can be creative with mounting it. I used a nice washer on the top with the same nut holding it in the 2600 paddle. You set the Y axis pot in the controller at center because it wont be used anymore. Pull out the x axis pot and hook its wires up to the 2600 pot. i left the rubber boot in place cause it looks good, just like atari made it.

[bohoki]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions.

OK THATS WHAT I WANT !!!! Where did you get it or how do you make 1 ? Do you know what was done ? I want to make 2 of them I was thinking about putting a jack in my megatroller to interrupt the left right and have a 2600 paddle control. Will that work with Pole Position? if so how do you shift from low to high? Help me on this one guys. The 5200 is awesome with the right controllers. The Megatroller(starcon clone) i made is fantastic on most games. Pacman is great but its no good for Kaboom. You gotta have a paddle control. Im leaning to the plug in 2600 paddle controller does anyone know what the ohm value of a 2600 paddle control? is it 500k ohm? Thanks Paul

 

 

i'm pretty sure the 2600 paddles are 1 meg but the 5200 doesnt care it has a nice sweet spot in the middle

 

to get pole position to shift using the number buttons 1 and 7 you must wire the pot commons to the +5 v which is pin 12 as opposed to pin9 unfortunatly every standard atari stick ive seen doesnt have that pin wired and only uses 14

conductor wire

 

you could use the 1 meg pots from paddles as the centering adjusters on your megatroller you got plenty of room to mount them on that big blue tray i would use them on my home mades but i dont want to sacrifice them

 

even though it would probably be cheaper to buy used paddles on ebay and using the pot and knob as opposed to buying component parts at a 500k pot about $2 the pot nut 5 cents the knob $1 since i need 2 per stick that comes to $6.10 and i bet i could find an ebay lot that has a couple sets of paddles for that plus a little shipping

 

but nothing gives me the same satisfaction as being able to claim that i made a joystick for the 5200 without using any official atari parts

[VectorGamer]

I think the 5200 stock controller works great for a games like Centipede and Super Breakout. I don't have Kaboom so I can't judge the performance as I would imagine the game play is much faster than Super Breakout.

[ataridoctor]

What do you do for a paddle controller on Kaboom 5200 the joystick sucks. anybody try making a 5200 Paddle contol? if so any pics or suggestions.

OK THATS WHAT I WANT !!!! Where did you get it or how do you make 1 ? Do you know what was done ? I want to make 2 of them I was thinking about putting a jack in my megatroller to interrupt the left right and have a 2600 paddle control. Will that work with Pole Position? if so how do you shift from low to high? Help me on this one guys. The 5200 is awesome with the right controllers. The Megatroller(starcon clone) i made is fantastic on most games. Pacman is great but its no good for Kaboom. You gotta have a paddle control. Im leaning to the plug in 2600 paddle controller does anyone know what the ohm value of a 2600 paddle control? is it 500k ohm? Thanks Paul

 

 

i'm pretty sure the 2600 paddles are 1 meg but the 5200 doesnt care it has a nice sweet spot in the middle

 

to get pole position to shift using the number buttons 1 and 7 you must wire the pot commons to the +5 v which is pin 12 as opposed to pin9 unfortunatly every standard atari stick ive seen doesnt have that pin wired and only uses 14

conductor wire

 

you could use the 1 meg pots from paddles as the centering adjusters on your megatroller you got plenty of room to mount them on that big blue tray i would use them on my home mades but i dont want to sacrifice them

 

even though it would probably be cheaper to buy used paddles on ebay and using the pot and knob as opposed to buying component parts at a 500k pot about $2 the pot nut 5 cents the knob $1 since i need 2 per stick that comes to $6.10 and i bet i could find an ebay lot that has a couple sets of paddles for that plus a little shipping

 

but nothing gives me the same satisfaction as being able to claim that i made a joystick for the 5200 without using any official atari parts

 

I think i could use a headphone jack to interupt the horizontal signal and have the 2600 controlle plug in to the jack then the joysick will handle the shift as the up down would still work does the atari 2600 paddle have a buttun for the fire or gas? maybe that could be used also HMMM

[VectorGamer]

Did anyone comment on GORF? I just picked this up last week and played it for the first time...

 

P.O.S.!!!!!!

 

Did they not have a Quality Control department?

[MIKE5200]

Did anyone comment on GORF? I just picked this up last week and played it for the first time...

 

P.O.S.!!!!!!

 

Did they not have a Quality Control department?

 

There's a update fix on here. Though you can't fix the cart.

[bohoki]

Did anyone comment on GORF? I just picked this up last week and played it for the first time...

 

P.O.S.!!!!!!

 

Did they not have a Quality Control department?

 

There's a update fix on here. Though you can't fix the cart.

 

why does it suck?

 

its play is just like kaboom so when you move the stick the ship moves just as fast as you can

[chuckwalla]

I actually prefer the 5200 Galaxian to the 8-bit. Seems to be better control of the ship using the 5200 joystick (I hear the booing already) and I score higher than on the 8-bit version;

 

Space Dungeon is a great arcade game brought home;

 

Star Trek is fun;

 

Qix is fantastic;

 

Berzerk is excellent;

 

Robotron is nice using the double joystick holder too;

 

Defender is awesome for the 5200 and 8-bit;

 

Choplifter is preferable on the 5200 for me;

 

Star Raiders is also great for both systems.

[Lord Helmet]

Did anyone comment on GORF? I just picked this up last week and played it for the first time...

 

P.O.S.!!!!!!

 

Did they not have a Quality Control department?

 

There's a update fix on here. Though you can't fix the cart.

 

why does it suck?

 

its play is just like kaboom so when you move the stick the ship moves just as fast as you can

 

The joystick sensitivity is ridiculous. The fixed version is awesome though.

[Gabriel]

Gorf is one of those games which gave the 5200 controller a bad name. And it's not the controller's fault. It's entirely because the game was programmed to read the controller in a manner which made no sense whatsoever. Who thought that absolute positioning control would be a good idea for Gorf?

 

The controller-fix version is great though. I play it on my flashcart with some regularity.