Should I buy a Starpath Supercharger?

[HDTV1080P]

Audio cassettes wear out. The best solution to the Supercharger is to backup all the audio cassette games onto an audio CD. Optical discs can last up to 1,000 years (literally up to 1,000 years if the media quality is good). Audio CD’s and optical discs are also immune to being erased by magnetics, EMI, and EMP’s.

 

I heard that some company once was selling all the Supercharger games on one audio CD, however I do not know if that is still being offered for sale.

The Harmony cartridge only supports Atari 2600 games up to 32k bytes. However the Harmony Encore supports Atari 2600 games up to 512k bytes. Therefore in theory a programmer could modify the multi-load features of each Supercharger game and make each game one big rom image. However, has someone modified all the Supercharger games and made them one big rom image so no loading needs to take place? The Harmony Encore would be perfect for Supercharger games that are over 32k bytes. The Supercharger games were the best quality games in the 80’s for the Atari 2600 since audio cassettes could hold much more videogame data when compared to cartridges that were never more than 32k bytes and most the time far smaller.

http://harmony.atariage.com/Site/Order_Encore.html

 

The Supercharger with audio cassettes back in the 80’s and even 90’s was a nice device for companies to distribute games on. How many games were released on audio cassettes for the Supercharger cartridge interface? Since modern cartridges can now bank switch up to 512k bytes, there is no need to make games for the Supercharger anymore. It was a great ideal back in the 80’s but it never became popular. Having a manual audio cassette with a cassette player to load game screens in the middle of the game was harder to do when compared to the cartridges. I remember on my Coleco Expansion module #1 Atari 2600 adapter for the ColecoVision/ADAM I sometimes could not get the fast load side of the cassette to work for Supercharger games, instead I had to use the normal speed loading. It all depended on the quality of the cassette player used. Now I have an old computer data grade cassette player/recorder that can load the fast load side of the cassette without troubles. I also use the rare Coleco Cartridge Extender with the Supercharger unit.

Edited August 24, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[RamrodHare]

 

However, has someone modified all the Supercharger games and made them one big rom image so no loading needs to take place?

 

The Harmony Encore would be perfect for Supercharger games that are over 32k bytes.

 

How many games were released on audio cassettes for the Supercharger cartridge interface?

I'm fairly certain all the games have been converted to work on the Harmony (Encore), I'm not sure if they are too big for the regular Harmony or not. I know I have 3 or more of the Supercharger games on my Harmony (Encore). They all play great. I don't recall the names of all the Supercharger games, so I may have all of them, but I've got over 800 games on mine, so it's hard to keep track of what's there. I know I have Escape the Mindmaster, Phaser Patrol and Commie Mutants on it.

 

If I'm not mistaken, there were/are 12 games for the supercharger. Don't quote me on that, because I'm just going from memory without looking it up.

[HDTV1080P]

Yes I remember there were around 12 games for the Supercharger. I wish I could buy them all on one CD-ROM. Better yet would be if all 12 worked on the Harmony Encore. I would like to see the rom image size of the 12 games made for the Supercharger. Back in the 80's I was always impressed with the game quality since the graphics were a notch above the cartridge games. Sometimes I felt I was playing on another system since it was not some 4kb or 8kb game cartridge with poor quality graphics.

[RamrodHare]

Ok, I did some digging. I have all the Supercharger games on my Harmony Encore and they all play. The largest is Escape from the Mindmaster at 33kb. All the rest 8kb, with the exception of a couple of 24kb games. ( I rounded off the numbers to remove the decimal points.) That means that all the supercharger games can be run on the regular Harmony, except for Escape from the Mindmaster.

[bohoki]

if you get one you wont be alone if all else fails i'll send you a megaupload like link with around 300 wavs and mp3s of various games

[alex_79]

The standard Harmony cart supports up to 4 loads, and all the original games work, including "Escape from the Mindmaster". I don't know if the encore supports more, anyway there aren't currently larger Supercharger games.

The Harmony (as well as Stella and probably other emualtors), needs multiload games to be concatenated into a single file. All the binaries can easily be found on-line. Atarimania Rom's collection includes them all. For Harmony, use the combined files for all multiload games, except for Party Mix (because that's technically not multiload but a collection of 3 separate games).

The loads are immediate on the Harmony, no loading time.

Also, you can use the makewav utility to convert those binaries into perfect digital audio files that you can easily burn on an audio CD or convert to mp3, record on cassettes or wathever other medium you want to use.

There's also the Playbin utility that plays them directly from a pc, without geenrating files on the hard drive.

While the binary file for each supercharger load is always 8448 bytes, there's a lot of unused space in it, as each one can hold max 6kb of data (and loads other than the first one are often less than that).

In case of "Mindmaster", the loads have the following sizes:
1st: 6144 bytes
2nd: 3328 bytes
3rd: 3584 bytes
4rd: 6144 bytes

Edited August 24, 2017 by alex_79

[up2knowgood]

Ok, I did some digging. I have all the Supercharger games on my Harmony Encore and they all play. The largest is Escape from the Mindmaster at 33kb. All the rest 8kb, with the exception of a couple of 24kb games. ( I rounded off the numbers to remove the decimal points.) That means that all the supercharger games can be run on the regular Harmony, except for Escape from the Mindmaster.

How is that possible? The Supercharger itself only has 6KB of space. Four loading Escape from Mastermind would therefore be largest, but with a max of 24KB. How did you come up with 33KB?

[alex_79]

It's worth mentioning that since the loads are to be "loaded" one at the time, it could be possible to increase the max number of loads even on the standard Harmony, by loading them from the 256Kb eeprom, for example.

 

Since modern cartridges can now bank switch up to 512k bytes, there is no need to make games for the Supercharger anymore.

The supercharger offers 6Kb of RAM (albeit writing to it is a bit slow), and it can theoretically support up to 256 loads that is 1.5 Mb (actually there's no real upper limit, altough after 256, the load number would repeat, possibly causing to load the wrong part...

Of course only 6kb at a time are available and loading takes some time so it's not a scheme suited for all kind of games.

[alex_79]

How is that possible? The Supercharger itself only has 6KB of space. Four loading Escape from Mastermind would therefore be largest, but with a max of 24KB. How did you come up with 33KB?

33Kb is the size of the binary file, but as I said, it contains a lot of unused space, so the actual data is less than that.

Edited August 24, 2017 by alex_79

[up2knowgood]

33Kb is the size of the binary file, but as I said, it contains a lot of unused space, so the actual data is less than that.

Very confusing.

[alex_79]

It's just that the file format used for supercharger games requires that each load is to be represented by a 8448 bytes file, no matter how big the actual load is. The extra space in that file is filled with random data that is ignored by emulators (or by the Harmony cart).

So the file size doesn't correspond to the size of the actual data that it stores.

 

If you look at the "rom" for "Escape from the Mindmaster", that's 33792 bytes (8448 bytes x 4 loads), but it actually contains slightly more than 19Kb of actual data, the rest is garbage that can be ignored. That's why it fits in the memory of the standard Harmony cart.

Edited August 24, 2017 by alex_79

[onemoretime]

Only if you have a 5200, with a 2600 adapter. It s the shock value of stacked adapters. lol

[Mulletino]

I always wanted the Supercharger as a kid, used to see the adverts in my Spider-man comics.

[onemoretime]

I always wanted the Supercharger as a kid, used to see the adverts in my Spider-man comics.

They where the bees knees in the day. I traded the labor to fix my neighbors 2600 that he for some reason stuffed a sandwich into , before his folks got home, for his Arcadia supercharger.

[hizzy]

Are these expensive now? I thought they sold for less than 100 bucks.

[onemoretime]

Generally, they are less than 100. Having said that, I have no idear what a boxed one would go for.

[Atari Dogs]

I had the store owner check the supercharger. He has a friend with an Atari. The story goes a little crazy from there. The unit did not work, then he asked if I would be interested in a his friend's Atari 7800. I said no, but asked if he tested it on the 7800. He did know, and asked why. I told him the super charger does not work on most 7800s. His friend does not a 2600, but his friends friend does. So, the unit was supposed to have been checked this weekend, and I will find out in a few days.

[RamrodHare]

I had the store owner check the supercharger. He has a friend with an Atari. The story goes a little crazy from there. The unit did not work, then he asked if I would be interested in a his friend's Atari 7800. I said no, but asked if he tested it on the 7800. He did know, and asked why. I told him the super charger does not work on most 7800s. His friend does not a 2600, but his friends friend does. So, the unit was supposed to have been checked this weekend, and I will find out in a few days.

Sounds to me like this might be one of those deals you should let go, unless he's willing to give you a money back guarantee that it works. Seems to me he should have just done that in the first place instead of taking it to his friend to "test" it. Of course there's always the chance that it may only need a simple repair to function again, but if you buy it as-is, then you're stuck with it. Unless it's ridiculously cheap, I'd just pass on it without a guarantee.

[onemoretime]

This is a 25-30 dollar item in unknown condition, as far as I m concerned. Kinda like fleabay, if it says item is untested, or condition is unknown, then it s a given that it doesn t work.

[HDTV1080P]

So was the ATARI 7800 not 100% compatible with ATARI 2600 games? The ATARI 7800 was unique, since it was the only videogame system that did not require a add on adapter to play ATARI 2600 games.

 

Why doesn’t the Supercharger work on all or most ATARI 7800’s? Was it a physical depth issue when it came to the Supercharger plastic case?

 

I purchased a ColecoVision in 1982 for around $200 and later on purchased the Expansion module #1 ATARI 2600 adapter for around $60. When I purchased my Supercharger back around 1984, the plastic case was too wide and it would not work. Therefore, I called Coleco to report the problem. Coleco said I needed a Coleco Cartridge Extender to use Expansion Module #1 the ATARI 2600 adapter with the Supercharger unit. Therefore, Coleco asked for the serial number and then mailed me a free $30 value cartridge extender. Yes it solved the problem and it allowed me to use 100% of ATARI 2600 cartridges including the Supercharger unit.

[Keatah]

I know you didn't mean to speak for everyone. I like the old GAMES because they're fun, and I tolerate the old hardware because it used to be a necessary evil. I think the software is the soul, and the consoles are just the vessel to contain them.

 

That's pretty much right. I cannot and will not tolerate older hardware. I have enough going with all my Apple II stuff. But that aside, the essence and soul of classic gaming lies in the simple logic chips of the time and their interaction with the "Game Program".

 

Playing with the physical hardware like the VCS switches, and fucking around with the tint/color controls on the TV, and inserting cartridges.. It's all motor memory. It's only a tiny portion of the greater experience of playing the games - the true memory makers.

 

So. If those chips' functions can be replicated and emulated all the more better! Patch in (load a rom) an arbitrary "Game Program" and the playground is almost identical, perhaps better. It just happens on more versatile and more capable silicon.

 

---

 

Seeing a game pop up on Emulator Stella is just as thrilling as flipping the power switch on a real VCS. And you have the added bonus of not being blasted with static while changing games! Though some may beg to differ. That's ok.

[Video]

I imagine the super charger would work fine with a 7800. The problem is, it doesn't physically fit into the slot. There are a tiny number of games that may or may not work in the 7800, but its pretty rare. Most games that are issues are really a 'fit the slot' issue, not an actual problem with compatibility otherwise.

[Cynicaster]

If it were me, I'd BUY a Harmony cart and READ about the Supercharger.

 

Best quote in the thread, IMO.

 

Count me among those who does not need to recreate every dance step of setting up a retro game in order to enjoy it in the modern day. I mean, I can see the desire to play games on original hardware with original controllers and all that, but in this case, you're still doing that; the only difference between then and now is that now there are much more convenient ways of loading the software into the hardware.

 

But, we all love retro games, and we all approach the hobby from different angles. Far be it from me to say that somebody should not value this or that simply because I do not.

[zzip]

 

Best quote in the thread, IMO.

 

Count me among those who does not need to recreate every dance step of setting up a retro game in order to enjoy it in the modern day. I mean, I can see the desire to play games on original hardware with original controllers and all that, but in this case, you're still doing that; the only difference between then and now is that now there are much more convenient ways of loading the software into the hardware.

 

But, we all love retro games, and we all approach the hobby from different angles. Far be it from me to say that somebody should not value this or that simply because I do not.

 

The irony is, I doubt very many of us liked loading cassettes back in the day. They were slow and unreliable. If we had the option for something like a harmony cart back then, we would have taken it in a heartbeat.

 

So now to be 'authentic' you need the original HW, when most of us back then didn't give a crap about authenticity. We just had no other options.

[hizzy]

You should be able to hobby how you want to. There's a great thread where a guy pressed a supercharger game to vinyl and played it.

 

It's interesting to see people say don't buy a super charger, buy a harmony, but why buy a harmony to play a rom when you can play it on your computer for free? You can play with the og joysticks & everything.