5200 VS 7800: Which System has the Better Library?

[kool kitty89]

Again, I do agree that calling the 7800 a "souped up 2600" is totally wrong, if anything, the A8 chipset is more applicable in that sense. (incompatible, but with much more low level hardware similarities to the VCS than the 7800 has -comparing it when running in 7800 mode, of course)

 

It's a bit of a shame that the A8 chipset wasn't pushed a bit further in that respect and given full backwards compatibility with the VCS.

[Schizophretard]

I know that's a controversial opinion, but the system just really does nothing for me. To me, it has no soul.

...So? I hate it when people say something has or doesn't have a "soul". No offense to you of course, but I just think it's just ridiculous to assign a quality like that to a game system of all things.

 

That is a soulless thing to say. My video game systems are offended.

 

Anyway, I'm leaning towards 5200 but if someone made 5200 paddles then I would definitely choose 5200.

[Cobra Kai]

I know that's a controversial opinion, but the system just really does nothing for me. To me, it has no soul.

...So? I hate it when people say something has or doesn't have a "soul". No offense to you of course, but I just think it's just ridiculous to assign a quality like that to a game system of all things.

 

That is a soulless thing to say. My video game systems are offended.

 

Anyway, I'm leaning towards 5200 but if someone made 5200 paddles then I would definitely choose 5200.

 

I made my own 5200 paddle. It's very easy to do, and the DIY instructions used to be here on the forums somewhere but I can no longer track them down. So, now that you know 5200 paddles exist, you must choose the 5200.

[Schizophretard]

I'm going to have to find the directions and make one.

[ATARI7800fan]

7800 + 800XL = best of both worlds IMO. All of the flavor and none of the calories.

I think the joysticks are great if you don't follow the media hype (except for reliability). Games like Pac-Man were never uncontrollable; it was just a different feel that scared people into not even trying to use them.

 

Spot on.

It warms my heart seeing threads like this. Seemed like for the longest time the 5200 was the red-headed step child of the (Atari) family. There only seemed to be a few of us sticking up for old Pam, now it looks to be pretty darn well-liked by many.

...Yes I know as was pointed out this is a 5200 thread, but even at that there's usually not a helluva lot of love.

 

Not sure how or why though the Atari computer line constantly gets thrown in as a comparison to the 5200. Really if you're going to that extreme than just say get a modern pc with an emulator and you have everything. I just think back to the release(s) of both. The 5200 at launch was $269 (although that may have been msrp as I got mine at launch for $249. The 800 was a whopping $899 !!! (correct me if I'm off on that). In any event, it was within striking range of TRIPLE the price. Did people REALLY spend that much just to play games back then? I didn't know anybody that did.

 

Meh...off topic there. Sry.

 

Thats exactly what I did and I love both of them. Each has its own positives(I actually own a expanded 600XL with 64K of ram, got it from here).

[+darryl1970]

7800 + 800XL = best of both worlds IMO. All of the flavor and none of the calories.

I think the joysticks are great if you don't follow the media hype (except for reliability). Games like Pac-Man were never uncontrollable; it was just a different feel that scared people into not even trying to use them.

 

Spot on.

It warms my heart seeing threads like this. Seemed like for the longest time the 5200 was the red-headed step child of the (Atari) family. There only seemed to be a few of us sticking up for old Pam, now it looks to be pretty darn well-liked by many.

...Yes I know as was pointed out this is a 5200 thread, but even at that there's usually not a helluva lot of love.

 

Not sure how or why though the Atari computer line constantly gets thrown in as a comparison to the 5200. Really if you're going to that extreme than just say get a modern pc with an emulator and you have everything. I just think back to the release(s) of both. The 5200 at launch was $269 (although that may have been msrp as I got mine at launch for $249. The 800 was a whopping $899 !!! (correct me if I'm off on that). In any event, it was within striking range of TRIPLE the price. Did people REALLY spend that much just to play games back then? I didn't know anybody that did.

 

Meh...off topic there. Sry.

 

Thats exactly what I did and I love both of them. Each has its own positives(I actually own a expanded 600XL with 64K of ram, got it from here).

 

Any advantage of an expanded 600xl over an 800xl?? Just wondering. I know the 600xl takes up a little less space.

[Charlie_]

7800 + 800XL = best of both worlds IMO. All of the flavor and none of the calories.

I think the joysticks are great if you don't follow the media hype (except for reliability). Games like Pac-Man were never uncontrollable; it was just a different feel that scared people into not even trying to use them.

 

Spot on.

It warms my heart seeing threads like this. Seemed like for the longest time the 5200 was the red-headed step child of the (Atari) family. There only seemed to be a few of us sticking up for old Pam, now it looks to be pretty darn well-liked by many.

...Yes I know as was pointed out this is a 5200 thread, but even at that there's usually not a helluva lot of love.

 

Not sure how or why though the Atari computer line constantly gets thrown in as a comparison to the 5200. Really if you're going to that extreme than just say get a modern pc with an emulator and you have everything. I just think back to the release(s) of both. The 5200 at launch was $269 (although that may have been msrp as I got mine at launch for $249. The 800 was a whopping $899 !!! (correct me if I'm off on that). In any event, it was within striking range of TRIPLE the price. Did people REALLY spend that much just to play games back then? I didn't know anybody that did.

 

Meh...off topic there. Sry.

 

Thats exactly what I did and I love both of them. Each has its own positives(I actually own a expanded 600XL with 64K of ram, got it from here).

 

Any advantage of an expanded 600xl over an 800xl?? Just wondering. I know the 600xl takes up a little less space.

 

Stock 600xl also has no monitor port. So RF only unless its modded...

[82atari5200]

Have to go 5200 all the way almost every game is a gem. It will never be beaten and it's one of the things from my childhood that is just as good as I remember.... sorry A-Team.

[kool kitty89]

Any advantage of an expanded 600xl over an 800xl?? Just wondering. I know the 600xl takes up a little less space.

 

Stock 600xl also has no monitor port. So RF only unless its modded...

And with the expansion, the 600XL is more awkward than the 800. (makes it deeper in footprint than the 800 and also uneven)

 

 

The 800XL or 130XE are the best choices overall (65XE is OK too) for functionality and compatibility (A8 is more convenient with carts and tends to have a better keyboard), but there's also some reason to have an 800 or 400 around too. Aside from looking cool (especially the 400 IMO), there's the 4 controller ports . . . and while there's only 1 game that uses all 4 ports simultaneously, that 1 game is really fun to actually have with 4 players and it's not on the 5200. That, of course, is Asteroids.

Edited May 14, 2011 by kool kitty89

[+Mitch]

And with the expansion, the 600XL is more awkward than the 800. (makes it deeper in footprint than the 800 and also uneven)

 

Unless you have the internal memory expansion.

 

Mitch

[kool kitty89]

And with the expansion, the 600XL is more awkward than the 800. (makes it deeper in footprint than the 800 and also uneven)

 

Unless you have the internal memory expansion.

 

Mitch

Oh, well, then yes . . . might as well go all out with a 130XE compatible expansion and AV/s-video out too. (64k would be simpler though . . . you needed added hardware and more soldering for 128/256k)

 

I actually like the look of the XE, but the cart slot is a pain (XEGS is a bit cumbersome too overall), but I think I prefer the keyboard too. (it's mushy but not really worse than the poorer XL examples and I like the key caps a lot more -the XL ones are too narrow, though the XE ones still need to be deeper/taller -ie enough to make them squarish- and I think the ST keys are just like that -I haven't used an ST keyboard yet though, so I'm not sure)

The XL (and presumably 800) keys are really a bit too small to be comfortable for me, the XE is closer, but not quite there either. (wide enough horizontally, but not vertically) Then again, several other 70s/80s home computers have too small keys as well. (the C64/VIX ones aren't really much different from the Atari ones, but I think the TRS-80 might be a bit better)

 

Granted, the only Atari computer I actually own is a 400 with the membrane keyboard, so a lot worse off than the others anyway for any actual typing. (the key click beep really makes that more usable though)

Plus I'm not a touch typist, so the cramped/smaller keys on some machines aren't as big of a problem as they could be. (my fingers feel too close together if I try to use a touch typing position on any of those, but it's not too bad for the actual hunt-and-peck-ish typing I tend to do -not totally hunt and peck, but a weird hybrid semi-touch typing where I only occasionally glance at the keyboard and end up using most of my fingers overall but still mostly my index and thumbs -use ring/middle/pinky more rarely) I get by relatively fast (not sure of the actual WPM), but I'm definitely still vision reliant for typing too. (turn the lights off and I'll run into trouble )

[Mirage]

Plus I'm not a touch typist, ... hunt-and-peck-ish typing I tend to do ...

 

!!! By far the most verbose forum typist on the internet hunt-and-pecks?!?! LOL

Edited May 15, 2011 by Mirage

[kool kitty89]

Plus I'm not a touch typist, ... hunt-and-peck-ish typing I tend to do ...

 

!!! By far the most verbose forum typist on the internet hunt-and-pecks?!?! LOL

Yep . . . though I'm not sure it's plain hunt and pecking either. (I was a little surprised to find that some of the frequent posters on other forums also couldn't touch type, especially a few programmers )

 

I tried to lean to touch type a long time ago (computer typing classes in late elementary and middle school), but I never ended up being comfortable with it. (and eventually became rather proficient at fast hunt and peck typing -or whatever you could call what I do) It's kind of hard to describe . . . it's sort of a combination of non-standard touch/feel based typing with assistance from peripheral vision and occasional glances at the keyboard. (and inconsistent use of different fingers on different keys depending on the position of my hands at any given time -and somewhat on sitting position/posture as well)

 

Also, it seems that I type somewhere in the 40-50 WPM range. (at least by a very rough timed test I just tried by transcribing some written text . . . albeit that's not quite as fast as I can go straight from my head -at least if I'm typing as I'm thinking -as if I were speaking- and not going back to edit things for proper punctuation, etc)

[Mirage]

It was really more of a comment about your propensity to type novella-length posts than it was about your typing, to be completely honest.

[kool kitty89]

It was really more of a comment about your propensity to type novella-length posts than it was about your typing, to be completely honest.

That has much more to do with my thought process and interest in certain discussion topics than my typing.

[akator]

It was really more of a comment about your propensity to type novella-length posts than it was about your typing, to be completely honest.

 

And in multiple forums. I can type 80wpm and couldn't possibly begin to be as verbose. How does he do it?