Best 2600 emulator (for testing programs) ?

[Lord-Chaos]

Which ATARI 2600 is the best , that means most accurate - for testing own programs ?

 

I cannot test programs on a real ATARI 2600 - so the emulator must be quite good.

 

Thimo

[Big Player]

Z26

[Cupcakus]

This is a matter of debate... and it's really up to you.

 

I use EditPlus to code my projects, which is a windows program... Having to go to DOS and run Z26 every time I compile is a pain. Here are the pluses and minuses I see to each of the emulators... I use all three.

 

Of course your best bet is to get a Flash Cart when they are available and not have to use an emulator at all :-)

 

Z26

--Has a scanline counter (-V9) which is a godsend to the developer... :-)

--Runs very poorly on DOS emulated OSes (NT/2000/XP)

--Runs in DOS, so it has to be completely exited if you want to get back to your code.

--Has a trace debug feature that can really help you sort out bugs.

--I only use Z26 when I want to verify the scan line count, and when I need to run a trace for a bug I can't narrow down.

 

PCAEWin

--Runs completely in a window, plus after each compile you just click the lightning bolt button, and then the green light button and you can see your new compile... super easy and fast. Sound emulation is good, but colors are a bit off.

--Has an integrated Debugger. It doesn't work very well... but it does let you stop the game at any point and check the contents of all the registers and RAM... If you set up specific values to write into RAM at certain areas, this is a great method of debugging. It also has breakpoints, and step through too, but I can never get them to work.

--This IMHO is the best development emulator, and the one I use the most... It just works best with windows.

 

Cyberstella

--I use this one rarely... I feel it's colors are dead on to what the TV will look like... however it's sound emulation is shady at best... and it only runs in full screen mode.

--If you have a bankswitched game, you will have to create a .PRO file entry for your game each time you compile it... including a MD5 checksum... waste of time. I only use Cyberstella to see if the colors look right.

 

There are others... but that is what I use.