New Astrocade owner, in love

[Place Logo Here]

I have wanted this console for many years now. Was always a little reluctant to buy one from an on-line retailer as I had heard so many horror stories about fried circuitry.

 

So I hesitantly took the plunge on the first one I ever saw in the wild: a unit in near-mint condition, with 16 carts (including Incredible Wizard and Muncher) and two new controllers (in box, no less).

 

Oh, that was $250 well spent.

 

Just a few reasons why this console rocks:

 

- Those controllers. Jeez, I want similar controllers for every one of the nine other systems I have. Easy on the hands, no numb thumb, a combination joystick and paddle. Sheer genius.

 

- Flicker-free sprites, even with a dozen or more objects moving on the screen. Treasure Cove and Incredible Wizard are great demonstrations of this. In this regard, it stands head and shoulders above the other systems of that era.

 

- Along with the lack of flickering, the processor in this deceptively simple looking beast is jaw-dropping fast. Playing Space Fortress on the highest level (or trying to play Galaxians on the highest level) is a real rush of blood to the head.

 

My problem for now: want more games! Really wish I had splurged for the multcart even when I didn't have a console yet. Or, I would be happy if people would do more repro carts, like Treasure Cove.

[+eebuckeye]

Get a multi-cart and you'll be set!

[ubersaurus]

Ken Lill still sells the multicart if you pm him on here, last I checked!

 

But it really is a great system. The controller is absolutely my favorite pre-crash one and I wish it had gotten cloned for other systems too. I would also recommend getting a BASIC cart and downloading some of the games for it off ballyalley, too. There's some interesting stuff in there!

[Place Logo Here]

I have been curious about the Basic cart. Looks like that has a 1/8" stereo input. Can it use devices other than cassette players (i.e. MP3 players) as input?

[ubersaurus]

Oh yeah. I use an old iPod that I loaded up with wav files (well, and music, but for the Astrocade's purposes...) just get the cable and go for it. In my limited experience there aren't a whole lot of BASIC games that are as pretty or as smooth-playing as the cartridge games for technical reasons, but there are some pretty neat ones in there.

 

Other recommendation: pick up a laptop cooler and run your Bally on top of it. Without the cooler mine gets pretty warm in that slanted part next to the keypad, but with it, it only heats up a little bit.

Edited August 14, 2017 by ubersaurus

[CatPix]

Well congrats on your find.

Its an awesome system for sure. Mine was modded more than a bit, with a S-video board (I believe mine was the last available) and the shielding removed and replaced with radiators to cool off the chips.

It's a great system, especially for the era. I would love to see more homebrews on it

[ballyalley]

I have wanted this console for many years now. Was always a little reluctant to buy one from an on-line retailer as I had heard so many horror stories about fried circuitry.

When you get a working console, as long as you keep it cool, then they last and do okay. Treat the Astrocade badly, and it will treat you in kind.

 

So I hesitantly took the plunge on the first one I ever saw in the wild: a unit in near-mint condition, with 16 carts (including Incredible Wizard and Muncher) and two new controllers (in box, no less).

I haven't heard of anyone getting an Astrocade in the wild for a long time. Did you pick it up at a game store?

 

Oh, that was $250 well spent.

Since you got a good number of game cartridges, that's a good deal. I wish that there was a cheaper alternative for the Astrocade, but such a thing doesn't exist.

 

- Those controllers. Jeez, I want similar controllers for every one of the nine other systems I have. Easy on the hands, no numb thumb, a combination joystick and paddle. Sheer genius.

 

The Astrocade controllers work good, but I prefer the Atari's CX40 joystick when they're in good working order. However, in order to use an Atari-style controller, you'll need to make your own adapter. If you know how to do this, then you'll find that it's worth it.

 

Despite that I prefer the CX40 joystick, you'll never be able to play Gunfight with the CX40, as it doesn't have a "knob." You may not get "numb thumb," but you will find that you can get index finger fatigue before too long. Also, having played the prototype of Conan the Barbarian quite a bit a few weeks ago, I can attest that the knob can wear out your thumb/index finger.

 

- Flicker-free sprites, even with a dozen or more objects moving on the screen. Treasure Cove and Incredible Wizard are great demonstrations of this. In this regard, it stands head and shoulders above the other systems of that era.

Technically, there are no sprites on the Astrocade, because all "sprites" are just made up of the background bitmap display. This is most notable when characters over-write each other.

 

If you look at early games, then you'll see plenty of flicker-full games (take Seawolf/Missile, for example), but as the programmers got better at programming the Bally Arcade, the system had flicker-free movement of objects-- and you chose two perfect example of this: Treasure Cove and The Incredible Wizard.

 

- Along with the lack of flickering, the processor in this deceptively simple looking beast is jaw-dropping fast. Playing Space Fortress on the highest level (or trying to play Galaxians on the highest level) is a real rush of blood to the head.

Programmers made great use of the Z80. You also happened to have named two games that are perfect examples of this speed. Space Fortress gets (literally) blistering fast, and playing Galactic Invasion (aka Galaxian) on the higher levels is near-impossible. I'd venture that playing Galactic Invasion on level 9 is impossible for more than two or three minutes (if you can even manage to play that long).

 

My problem for now: want more games! Really wish I had splurged for the multcart even when I didn't have a console yet. Or, I would be happy if people would do more repro carts, like Treasure Cove.

 

As someone already mentioned, I think that Ken Lill is making a few UltiMulti cartridge in small batches. I know that he plans to stop making them by the end of 2017. Over the last couple of weeks I've tested version 3.0 of his multicart. He is adding a few new items, and fixing a few very minor issues with a few games.

 

I don't think that Ken is making the 32K RAM upgrade (the Lil' White Ram) anymore, but if you manage to get a multicart, then you may as well ask him if he has any of these RAM expansion available anymore, as if you have a RAM expansion, then you can play every game and program on the UltiMulticart except for one machine language programming utility (called Blue Ram Utility).

 

I noticed that a few people mentioned playing BASIC programs on the Astrocade. It really is as simple as loading the WAV files from some device, such as a PC, laptop, phone or MP3 player. Just make sure that if you play the WAV files from a device like and iPod, that the WAVs are not compressed to some lossy format (such as MP3). If WAV files get compressed, then they won't load properly on the Astrocade.

 

If you want to try some BASIC games, as was also mentioned in this thread, then you can't really compare them on equal footing against cartridges. This doesn't just go for the Astrocade. Most other home computers are this way too.

 

Here are links to a few articles written in the early 1980s that talk about BASIC software on the Astrocade:

 

1) Games for the Astrocade: An Evolutionary Profile, by By Mark Brownstein.

"Video Games," 1, no. 12 (Sept. 1983): 62-65.

 

A short early history of Bally Arcade/Astrocade games with most detail covering the differences and hardships encountered by BASIC programs versus machine language programmers.games for

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/articles_and_news/Games%20for%20the%20Astrocade%20-%20An%20Evolutionary%20Profile/Games%20for%20the%20Astrocade%20-%20An%20Evolutionary%20Profile%20(1983)(Mark%20Brownstein).pdf

 

2) Astrocade's Underground, by Danny Goodman

"Joystik," September 1983: 18-21.

 

This article is about how Astrocade users get along without support from Astrocade, Inc. In 1983, this was quite a lot of exposure for this console. The article begins:

 

You can't really call the group an "underground," because it operates openly, almost vocally. But few of the millions of Atari, Mattel, Odyssey and Coleco players are aware that an entire cottage industry has grown around the highly rated, but rarely seen, Astrocade Professional Arcade system. To gain appreciation for the third-party support out there, consider that almost 400 individual programs are currently available for the Astrocade -- more than for the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision combined.

 

In conversations, correspondence and meetings with several members of the group, I found a common thread of intense dedication to keeping the Professional Arcade alive. Despite the up-and-down activities of the system's producers over the years, the Arcade guerrillas are keeping the faith.

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/articles_and_news/Astrocade%27s_Underground (Joystik)(Sept 1983).pdf

 

If you enjoy these two articles, then you'll probably find many of the other contemporary articles in the "Article and News" section of BallyAlley.com fascinating reading:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/articles_and_news/articles_and_news.html

 

As for Astrocade homebrew games, I'd also like to see more of them, especially cartridge titles with original content. For instance, there are a few platform games for the Astrocade, but there are none that were written in machine language. I'd love to see another homebrew programmer make the Astrocade sing in much the same way as Michael Garber did when he wrote his homebrew Astrocade games: War and Crazy Climber.

 

The Astrocade is a much-beloved system... for those that know about it. Owning a working Bally Arcade console is almost like being a member of some sort of secret society. Maybe we should start holding yearly Astrocade meetings...? If you bring the beer, then I'll provide the space!

 

Adam

Edited August 17, 2017 by ballyalley

[Place Logo Here]

 

I haven't heard of anyone getting an Astrocade in the wild for a long time. Did you pick it up at a game store?

 

 

I bought it from a vendor at Replay FX in Pittsburgh. It turned some heads when I walked out with it.

 

Another game that gets unbelievably fast (though it takes a while to do so) is Muncher. I think it is level 6 where it is suddenly twice as fast as the previous level. Have only made it there two times so far, and each time I only lived maybe 30 seconds tops.

 

Thanks for the links. You have a great site. I had already been there looking at docs and promo pics before I even had a console.

 

I can't wait to try out the Basic cart I bought off eBay this week. I also ordered the UltiMulti and Lil White Ram from Ken. Word to those reading this who don't have an Astrocade yet: you could very well have one someday and you will wish you had bought these when they were still available. The time to pull the trigger on these is now.

[ubersaurus]

Nice! I lucked into mine when someone was selling one on Craigslist two years ago. Only time I can recall seeing one for sale in the wild or even in a convention.

 

The multicart is really handy if only for the rare games that almost never come up for sale online (though having access to the homebrews and the ram expanded games is pretty sweet too).

[mckafka99]

Congrats on the find! Whether you end up with Ken's awesome multicart or have to hunt down an individual copy of the game, Solar Conquerer is one the best games for the system (if not the best, imo).

 

I wasn't aware that Ken was working on a version 3 of his cart, I may have to look into this (I have v.2)

[scotty]

 

 

I wasn't aware that Ken was working on a version 3 of his cart, I may have to look into this (I have v.2)

I have version 3. Got it a few months ago. it ROCKS!!! Highly rerecorded. Thanks Ken!!!

[BassGuitari]

Owning a working Bally Arcade console is almost like being a member of some sort of secret society.

That's a very good way to put it, lol.

 

There is definitely a certain feeling of exclusivity about being a Bally owner.

[CatPix]

There must be that feeling when you are the owner of a WORKING Astrocade

[Blazing Lazers]

There must be that feeling when you are the owner of a WORKING Astrocade

Seriously! I've owned about a dozen different of these systems and only 4 really worked without issue (or at all). But man, is it ever worth it. This system is the pinnacle of 70's gaming, as far as I'm concerned. And the controllers are about the best ever in any decade!

[CatPix]

I'm glad the only one I got is working. Not flawlessly, but I can show it to people anyway so there is that.

Given the price rise, I wouldn't get another one from the US if mine died :/