Technical specs for the 2600 console.

[Video]

I'm interested into getting into game coding for the 2600, but would like to know the specs of the system. Here's some of the stuff I'm interested in.

 

Over all system capabilities.

 

Number of colors available.

Number of colors possible on screen at once (without a dithering type effect)

Total number of sprites capable.

 

Background capabilities.

 

Horizontal resolution + max, and reccomended max colors possible.

Verticle resolution + max, and reccommended max colors possible.

Scrolling capabilities, split screen scrolling capabilities, multidirectional scrolling capabilities.

 

Sprites.

 

Number of single colored, horizontally and vertically, sprites capable, without dithering.

Number of multicolored sprites capable, horizontally and vertically, without dithering.

 

I figure all this stuff is typical questions from people, but I haven't managed to locate anything telling much of anything about what the 2600 Atari can do, just stuff that says what types of chips are in it (and I don't know how one type can effect help/hurt other types, so this isn't much help)

 

Can you point me to some good sites/books on the programming and specs of Atari2600?

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Try the hompage from Dan Boris:

 

http://atarihq.com/danb/a2600.shtml

 

Reading the Stella Programming Guide available there should answer all of your questions.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[DanBoris]

You will find that there are no concrete answers to a lot of these questions due to the way the graphics hardware works in the 2600.

 

Here are some answers:

 

Colors: 128

 

Max on screen: You could get all 128 colors on the screen at once if you wanted to.

 

Sprites: 2 Players which are 8 bits wide and the full height of the screen

2 Missiles and 1 Ball which are 1 bit wide and the full height of the screen.

 

Of course there are a lot of tricks and features that can be used to stretch the sprite cabilities. Unlike on a lot of system, on the 2600 the use of the tricks is more the rule then the exception.

 

Resolution: The screen is normally 192 lines high, but since you directly control when VBLANK happens this is flexible. The screen is 160 color clock wide. Sprites can be positioned and drawn at color clock resolution, but the background only has a resolution of 40 pixels.

 

Scrolling: The 2600 has no inherant scrolling cabilities, but since you have to redraw the screen on every frame scrolling can be achieved.

 

 

You can find some good docs here that might help answer some of your question.

http://www.whimsey.com/atari_docs/

 

Dan

[Video]

Wow, thanks a lot guys.

 

I'll check those sites out.