ACML Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Here's an interesting game. It's called "Star Raiders Dual" as in "head to head". I came across it in ~1983 maybe. It appears to be a modified version of the original Star Raiders that has a solo and a dual mode that requires the other player to start the game on another Atari. I'm guessing you connect the two machines via the SIO cable and it acts as a null modem cable. It is most likely from the early 80's (pre-XL) as it requires the 400/800 OS-B OS to run the dual mode (press SELECT). Has anyone ever seen this title before and more importantly, ever played it head to head? I suspect it was never released to retail and may very well be a prototype from Atari. If anyone knows anything about this title, please share your knowledge. Star Raiders Dual (ATARI) OS-B.XEX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Nice!! Where did you find this? And can someone make a video of this in play? I don't have immediate access to my 800 setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRGilbert Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Well, that is mighty interesting. I'm no expert on the A8 line, are there any other head to head games where can connect two seperate systems in this manner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Never heard of this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Fandal_ Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Looks very interesting. I checked the code and I think it is designed for 4-port machines connected using joystick ports 3 and 4. Unfortunately, I can't test it as I don't have any 400/800 machines... F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNIXcoffee928 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Looks very interesting. I checked the code and I think it is designed for 4-port machines connected using joystick ports 3 and 4. Unfortunately, I can't test it as I don't have any 400/800 machines... F. I have some 800s... any idea of the port wiring for this setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Fandal_ Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Looks very interesting. I checked the code and I think it is designed for 4-port machines connected using joystick ports 3 and 4. Unfortunately, I can't test it as I don't have any 400/800 machines... F. I have some 800s... any idea of the port wiring for this setup? I have no idea but I would try direct pin to pin (1-1, 2-2, etc.) wiring... F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I have some 800s... any idea of the port wiring for this setup? I have no idea but I would try direct pin to pin (1-1, 2-2, etc.) wiring... F. Might not be a good idea to connect the 5V pins together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Or at least put your shields up before you do 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 There's reads of TRIG3 in the code. So fair chance that there's not a direct mapping of PortB bits from one machine to the other. It "looks" like SR, but there's no Galactic Map, doesn't seem to have Shields either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hmm, null-modem capability...?!? I am on Mathy`s side here, so I say: make it gamelink/multilink compatible please ! And while you are at it, patch it for XL/XE use also (and while you are at it, patch or better re-write Midi Maze for gamelink/multilink also)... ;-) -Andreas Koch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hmm, null-modem capability...?!? I am on Mathy`s side here, so I say: make it gamelink/multilink compatible please ! And while you are at it, patch it for XL/XE use also (and while you are at it, patch or better re-write Midi Maze for gamelink/multilink also)... ;-) -Andreas Koch Let's go full tilt and add Alone Against the Empires mode too (A8 BattleSphere anybody ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Nice!! Where did you find this? And can someone make a video of this in play? I don't have immediate access to my 800 setup. I think I got this at an Atari User group meeting in San Diego or Mira Mesa, California around 1984/5. We kind of ignored it as most at the time, didn't know what a null model cable was. We didn't get acquainted with that until DOOM in the early 90s'. It just kind of sat on a disk, raising my curiosity every now an then, but never enough to try and figure out what it was. Not until I discovered AtariAge. I figure someone here must have heard of this. I guess not. Apparently, no one here has seen it before. I might some more unusual titles in my collection. I'll give it a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kogden Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 That's awesome.... wonder how hard this would be to actually make a cable for and patch for XL OS compatibility. Star Raiders is still one of my favorite games.... always thought a multiplayer version would be neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 ACML, please do have a look for other gems or maybe put your collection up for others to have a search? Thanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Here's an interesting game. It's called "Star Raiders Dual" as in "head to head". I came across it in ~1983 maybe. I wonder if Curt Vendel would mind hooking up his Alan-K link for a trial run Perhaps ACML has an Alan-K boot disk in his collection? The Atari Alan-K Project Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Here's an interesting game. It's called "Star Raiders Dual" as in "head to head". I came across it in ~1983 maybe. I wonder if Curt Vendel would mind hooking up his Alan-K link for a trial run Perhaps ACML has an Alan-K boot disk in his collection? The Atari Alan-K Project Well, since (as others have clearly stated) the code accesses the PORTB, TRIG2, and TRIG3 registers, that is quite sure to yield NOTHING!!!! Those Alan-K network modules hook up via the SIO ports and require a custom Network Operating system to be loaded in order to access them. Nothing to do with Joyports 3 & 4... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 The thing people need to know - this game is not Star Raiders. It appears to be an amateurish lookalike and there's every possibility that even if it was made to work, it might be a crap game not worth playing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorsten Günther Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Well, that is mighty interesting. I'm no expert on the A8 line, are there any other head to head games where can connect two seperate systems in this manner? Midimaze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikro Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Came across here while googling for exactly the same thing Here: http://www.asterius.com/atari/history1.html Martin Doudoroff writes: I visited an Atari user’s group meeting in San Francisco, where they were demonstrating two Atari’s linked together so they could play Star Raiders [a computer game inspired by the movie Star Wars’ outer-space dog fights] with one computer against the other—a very early “Internet-like” game setup. But I haven't found the name and/or more information yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Any pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) I did ask Mr. Doug Neubauer (he programmed the original Star Raiders) if he knew anything about this head to head version. He said he did not know about this version and was not familiar with it (never saw it before). So much for a follow on prototype. Someone previously in this post described another San Francisco based user group actually playing this head to head. I wonder if this would have been the first video game to use a null modem cable to play between to different machines (circa 1983/4)? Has anyone here on AtariAge ever played this successfully on two different machines? Edited August 22, 2013 by ACML Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 First game to use null-modem cable? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 The thing people need to know - this game is not Star Raiders. It appears to be an amateurish lookalike and there's every possibility that even if it was made to work, it might be a crap game not worth playing. It is important to know that this doesn't have Star Raiders code in it. And it is not official Star Raiders anything.. Not only that, Star Raiders' author knows nothing about it. This is a written-from-scratch game. Consider, if this was a true Star Raiders Dual edition - the Photons would sound the same as the real thing, not worse, the Attack Computer would be the same and so would the design of the ship. I smell a clone! Cool concept for its time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted August 23, 2013 Author Share Posted August 23, 2013 First game to use null-modem cable? No. Can you name a null modem game that would pre-date this? The first one I can remember was DOOM and that was 1991. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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