School Me on the Falcon.

[madhatter667]

Ok. I will admit that I know pretty much nothing about this one.

It was Atari's last home computer? 32 bit machine?

Has a similar form factor to the ST computers.

 

Computers interest me mostly from a gaming perspective. Most anything I need to do on a machine, I've been able to do for a very long time. It's the entertainment factor that keeps me glued. Lol. I know they aren't easy to come by either. I know that Atari computers ended up with a larger following in what is now the EU vs. the United States.

 

I went from playing a couple of games on Atari 8 bits as a kid (on top of 2600, and NES) to an Acer IBM compatible in like 1993. I played a lot of Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Dawn Patrol (the WWI flight game, not the submarine game), Red Baron, Shadows of Cairn, and Aces Over Europe/Pacific. I liked flight games, and shooters.

 

Is this machine worth holding out for in terms of game availability? Or is this the Atari computer unicorn?

 

[Clint Thompson]

I love the Falcon for all that it is but can't think of a single game outside of Crown of Creation 3D that you would definitely need it for. That and maybe just to check out the Space Junk demo and Killing Impact was fun - but that can be downloaded and played on a much more modern machine. Other games by Reservoir Gods can be played on an ST. Unless of course watching Quake run on such a machine is your thing, then it's worth it.

 

There are probably a few others worth mentioning for sure but the Falcon is very dry when it comes to games in general, it's potential was surely never met.

[Fletch]

I too love my Falcon, but as Clint mentioned its library is quite small. Here is a decent list of what is available:

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://christophe.bray.free.fr/informatique/falcon/falcon_jeux.htm&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

[Justin Payne]

 

 

... Dawn Patrol (the WWI flight game, not the submarine game), Red Baron, Shadows of Cairn, and Aces Over Europe/Pacific. I liked flight games, and shooters.

 

Is this machine worth holding out for in terms of game availability? Or is this the Atari computer unicorn?

 

Play any Red Baron 3D? Use to play a lot of it online with a few squads.

 

The Falcon is very cool but I think it's more of a unicorn. I do know of some games that need a little mhz boost and the mega ste and Falcon can help with that but you can just hack an existing ST to do that as well. So, if you're a collector or just want the best and don't mind dropping $500+ usd, the Falcon is for you.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Justin Payne

[pixelmischief]

Very few games were made that are "Falcon only". Compatibility with ST games used to be quite bad, but one of our local heroes has adapted a huge number of games for full Falcon compatibility. Find them at http://atari.8bitchip.info/fromhd.php. The Falcon, like the STe, does have Jaguar controller ports; for games that support it.

[francouai]

there is so few games for FALCON only.

I tired road riot 4WD (works only with the FALCON/JAGUAR pad) and it is too hard very unplayable.

According to the atari.8bitchips.info webage: playing with Test Drive on FALCON is ridiculous.