Returning to the 5200... various thoughts

[dcden]

After discovering this message board and perusing it for about a week, I decided to dig up my 5200 for old time's sake. Some various thoughts about playing the 5200 for the first time in about 4 years at least:

 

* Ballblazer is an incredible game! Probably the coolest music score I've ever heard for any retro game. The music (in attract mode) doesn't repeat itself, so I wonder if the notes are somehow randomly generated?

 

* Centipede is great, especially with the Trak ball.

 

* Did anyone ever feel the need to play the teddy bear level of Ms. Pacman? It's incredibly slow.

 

* My controllers are still in reasonable condition. The joystick's fine, and while the fire and keypad buttons are at wide ranges of sensitivity level, they are essentially still usable. BUT for some reason, on my Popeye game only, pressing down on the joystick doesn't work. Anyone else have this or a similar problem?

 

* Plus I remember the hit detection in Popeye was pretty spotty, particularly when trying to punch bottles. Galaxian also was very buggy, with shots sometimes going straight through a bug without effect, or dying for no reason.

 

* Forgot all about the "ratings" awarded in Super Breakout. Consulting my dusty ol' list of high scores, I achieved "Best" only 2 or 3 times for Double, Cavity, & Progressive, and never for plain Breakout. Has anyone ever gotten "Best" in plain Breakout?

 

All in all, it brought back a lot of memories of the 80's... looking forward to getting that Sean Kelly multicart for further 5200 adventures!

[dcden]

Another thing... both of the Qix cartridges broke on me back in the 80's, the only cartridges of mine ever to do so. Anyone else have this problem?

[KAZ]

I put it on teddy bear stage for Ms. Pacman, just to hear how high the music would get when the ghosts are blue...

 

It gets pretty high pitched...pretty neat.

 

And that's the only reason I'd ever play that stage.

 

Centipede is a plain good game, nuff said, I love it. I have a trak ball too, with or without it the game is fun. Missile Command is definitely GREAT with the trak ball.

[NE146]

Yes I've experienced that. When I was a kid, my relatively new MsPacman cart died on me for no reason and till this day does not work. It killed me because it wasn't like I could go out and buy another one back in the day.

 

As far as the 5200 stick issue with certain games. Yes I've heard of that and have seen it to some extent. However I was less affected by it as I had about 8 5200 controllers to choose from at the time. I think Crossbow *recently* experience that and was able to figure out what was going on. So I'd ask him.

 

Have fun with the Multicart! I still have to get mine updated as I got one from several years ago and since then so many new games have been added. I think it uses an on-screen menu now rather than dipswitches which is cool too.

[+Cafeman]

Some replies.

 

1. Ballblazer -- it *is* incredible, isn't it! I recall reading in an 80's magazine, it very well may have been Electronic Games, that the melodie notes are indeed randomly made up in an in-tune improvisational routine. Pretty nifty stuff!

 

2. 5200 Centipede is one of my favorites. I do better with the stick but I can't resist rolling that trak-ball for a few rounds too!

 

3. Teddy Bear levels -- I like the idea of teddy bear levels, but I never use them, they are always very dull to a good gamer. I want to put in an easy level into my 5200 game "Koffi" too so that youngsters and the gaming-skill-deprived can enjoy a round or two as well.

 

4. I never had any cart stop working for me, but on my 2-port system, several Activision games are difficult to load up -- I have to make sure the cart is plugged in to a sweet spot or it won't load, mostly just Activision carts (it's their shape).

 

5. I have NEVER played 5200 Super Breakout because I always thought the game should be played with paddles.

 

6. Popeye -- hitting those bottles can definitely be hit-or-miss, worse than the arcade version that's for sure. As good as Galaxians looks, I don't enjoy the 5200 game much, it just doesn't have the soul of the arcade game.

 

Nice to hear your thoughts! I rediscovered this system in the early spring of 2001 and it was a great time. Post some more thoughts as you get 'em.

 

(_)3

[Tempest]

quote

Plus I remember the hit detection in Popeye was pretty spotty, particularly when trying to punch bottles.

 

I just thought I'd chime in here and say that the collision detection in Popeye is VERY questionable at times, especially when punching the bottles. That's why I always avoided them at all costs, it was a 50/50 chance whether you'd hit them all or not. It really ruins an otherwise good game.

 

Actually speaking of Popeye, I think the programmer for the Atari 400/800 version (which is the same as the 5200 version) has been found. I'll have to ask her about the collision detection, because that is something that's bugged me for years!

 

Another fun thing to note about the 5200, is that Miner has a bug in it. On Zone 10 Bob jumps way too far for some reason. This bug IS NOT in the 400/800 version. The strange thing is that Bill Hogue told me that the gmae is identical (except for the controls). I could understand an error in the movement since they had to change that, but why would they touch the jumping algorithm?

 

Also I think the 5200 version of BBSB has a Big Five splash screen at start up that the 400/800 version doesn't have. Odd...

 

Tempest

[Nukey Shay]

Cafeman--

You don't have a modified 5200 paddle controller yet? There was a thread around here that shows how to make one from a dead controller. And a cool "lugnut" addition that gives a "weighty" feel to it (like arcade spinners). I'll see if I can find it again.

[+Cafeman]

Nope, the Caféman's time is very limited and I never got around to making one.

 

Besides, I don't want to risk screwing up one of my 3 working 5200 controllers, and I also don't have any spare paddles to cannibalize. I've seen them for sale on the net but I never felt good about paying $30 to $50 for something I'd only use on 5200 Breakout and Kaboom.

[Nukey Shay]

Well, in case one breaks...have the sites listed here bookmarked.

 

Skatepunk offered to do it in the past if you have the controllers and shipping cost, but I dunno if that offer still stands.

[dcden]

I have had a similar "load up" problem with Parker Bros. games. It's really not too bad, but on the Qbert game especially, I find that I have to reinsert the cartridge a few times before everything works properly. But last night I scored 780k+ on Qbert's default level, so that oughta take care of my Qbert fix for a few years.

 

Super Breakout is probably best played with paddles, but failing that, using the Trakball isn't so bad.

 

I'm glad others have noticed the Popeye bottle problems. Tempest, I agree it is otherwise a good game... good variety of gameplay, cute graphics & sound.

 

I'm sure this has been discovered before, but I haven't actually read it anywhere on 5200 tribute pages... In Ballblazer, when you beat the computer player in less than a minute, scroll to the extreme right of the playing field, and you can view a set of initials.

 

While we're talking about contacting the original programmers of 5200 games, can anyone explain why the programmers for Frogger decided to disable the Pause option??? The owner's manual for the game states: "... don't try to catch your breath with the PAUSE button. There's no stopping the fast-paced action of the game!" It _should_ say "Uh, we screwed up and didn't provide a pause option." That would have been more accurate!

[Tempest]

Sounds like it doesn't it? I'll have to check and see if the 400/800 version has a pause feature or not.

 

Tempest

[Gunstar]

Cafeman--

You don't have a modified 5200 paddle controller yet?  There was a thread around here that shows how to make one from a dead controller.  And a cool "lugnut" addition that gives a "weighty" feel to it (like arcade spinners).  I'll see if I can find it again.

 

Yes there is...I did the mod and wrote it up here, but it's got to have been 6 months to a year ago now...it's down there some where! Glad someone actually made use of it, my lugnut idea was a stroke of genius, if I do say so my self, as I always wanted a paddle with the weight of the metal arcade ones...

[Nukey Shay]

* highfives Gunstar