(Is There A) List of Atari/C64 "Flippy" Disks...

[DavidD]

Is there a list of titles that were released as "flippy" disks?  Atari on one side, and C64 (or something else) on the other?

 

I thought I had a few of them, but I can't find my original disks for One on One nor Racing Construction Set, and it feels like ONE of those was a flippy.  I checked Atarimania, but neither game page seemed to NOTE being a flippy.  Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms, but I can't seem to find a list of dual-system disk releases...

Edited December 20, 2023 by DavidD

[www.atarimania.com]

1 hour ago, DavidD said:

I checked Atarimania, but neither game page seemed to NOTE being a flippy. Maybe I'm using the wrong search terms, but I can't seem to find a list of dual-system disk releases...

No, you're correct, it isn't specified on our site.

 

The A8SP pages are more detailed in that regard, though the list is probably not complete yet:

https://www.a8preservation.com/#/software?page=1&t=FLPY

 

 

 

 

[Beeblebrox]

ah I wondered what flippy meant. Thought it was a typo.

 

From memory International Karate had a8 on sidea and c64 version on side b. 

[Rybags]

I might be wrong but get the feeling that there was a release of MULE as flippy.

 

Chances are such releases were probably later issues and likely more common in the UK and Europe.

[pps]

22 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

ah I wondered what flippy meant. Thought it was a typo.

 

From memory International Karate had a8 on sidea and c64 version on side b. 

That is true, I own one of these. Never owned a Commy sixty four, so don't know if "wrong" side ever worked🤪

[Peri Noid]

It's probably not quite what is expected but Atari Writer Plus was sold on a flippy disk with a regular version for 64KB of RAM on one side and an extended version for a 130XE on the other.

[+StaxX28]

1 hour ago, www.atarimania.com said:

No, you're correct, it isn't specified on our site.

 

The A8SP pages are more detailed in that regard, though the list is probably not complete yet:

https://www.a8preservation.com/#/software?page=1&t=FLPY

I checked the list of my games and yes A8SP list not complete:
Frogger (LOAD'N'GO Software)

Spite And Malice (Cosmi)
Traiblazer (Mindscape)

 

There are certainly others missing.

[Rybags]

Elektraglide - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-elektra-glide_1821.html

 

[zzip]

Most of my C64/Atari Flippys were Epyx and Mastertronic published titles

 

And I had a single Atari/Apple II flippy:  Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

[cx2k]

I remember Rescue on Fractalus or maybe it was Ballblazer coming on a flippy disk. Oddly enough, Atari's own Music Painter was released as a flippy with a C64 version on Side B.

[lbaeza]

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/250176-ataric64-flippy-disks

 

Regards,

Luis

Edited December 20, 2023 by lbaeza

[cx2k]

Trolls & Tribulations was another one. I remember this becaus emy buddy (who had a Commodore) and I bought this disk and split the cost.

 

[+davidcalgary29]

What I'd like is a list of flippies that had Atari on the "A" side and C64 on the "B". I remember reading about one release that had this designation, which was so unusual that it even mentioned that fact in the review.

 

Did anyone ever find an '80s release that had an A8 flippy with a system that was not the C64? I can't recall if I saw one with A8/Apple II or not -- perhaps I am thinking of Beyond Castle Wolfenstein.

 

Almost all of the last A8 releases that I saw for sale outside of traditional computer stores (ie. Canadian Tire) were flippies of old games. Lode Runner was a popular one, as were the Scott Adams Comic Book "games". Awardware also had lots of their titles on flippies.

 

And NTSC cassette games were sometimes flippies with other systems, right? 

[djglish]

I dug out a flippy that I have from Mastertronic.

   Commodore 64/128 and Atari 800XL/130XE

Not only a flippy but labeled as "Two Superb games in on pack"

It had both "L.A. Swat" and "Panther"

[+davidcalgary29]

2 minutes ago, djglish said:

I dug out a flippy that I have from Mastertronic.

   Commodore 64/128 and Atari 800XL/130XE

Not only a flippy but labeled as "Two Superb games in on pack"

It had both "L.A. Swat" and "Panther"

Well, at least they were better than Molecule Man. I never could get into that one.

[djglish]

It was strange timing on when this topic came up.  

I've been using this disk to test out my floppy drives lately.

[adam242]

Lode Runner and Karateka from Br0derbund were both flippy releases.

 

Mercenary and PQ The Party Quiz Game are two others I have.

[DavidD]

16 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said:

No, you're correct, it isn't specified on our site.

 

The A8SP pages are more detailed in that regard, though the list is probably not complete yet:

https://www.a8preservation.com/#/software?page=1&t=FLPY

 

 

 

 

Ah -- the only thing on that list that I own is Aztec Challenge, so it might have been that disk. 

[scotty]

Remember when the computer "experts" of the day would tell you not to notch your disks and use both sides, as the disc was made to spin one way, not both ways, and it would damage the surface of the disk over time.    LOL  Did it for YEARS and never had a bad disk.

 

[zzip]

17 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

What I'd like is a list of flippies that had Atari on the "A" side and C64 on the "B". I remember reading about one release that had this designation, which was so unusual that it even mentioned that fact in the review.

 

Did anyone ever find an '80s release that had an A8 flippy with a system that was not the C64? I can't recall if I saw one with A8/Apple II or not -- perhaps I am thinking of Beyond Castle Wolfenstein.

 

Almost all of the last A8 releases that I saw for sale outside of traditional computer stores (ie. Canadian Tire) were flippies of old games. Lode Runner was a popular one, as were the Scott Adams Comic Book "games". Awardware also had lots of their titles on flippies.

 

And NTSC cassette games were sometimes flippies with other systems, right? 

Yes my Beyond Castle Wolfenstein was flippy with Apple II.   It may have been a budget release of that game- as the disk label looked like it was printed on a dot-matrix printer in draft mode!   My disk of the original Castle Wolfenstein game had a professional label.

 

As for games with Atari on the "A" side,  my Epyx releases of Ballblazer and Rescue On Fractalus from 85 both have the Atari version on side "A".    But Koronis Rift and Eidolon have Atari on side "B".

 

Interestingly,  Ninja from Mastertronic found a way to put both the Atari and C64 versions on side A

[José Pereira]

29 minutes ago, zzip said:

Interestingly,  Ninja from Mastertronic found a way to put both the Atari and C64 versions on side A

There's a topic here where this was explained by someone on "How it could be?" but don't remember... a year or two ago...

It was a complete surprise to me and now I can't remember the explanation of how it could be done.

Anyone here remembers or know the explanation (think it reads some/different tracks then jumps A8 or C64...)?

 

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by José Pereira

[zzip]

10 minutes ago, José Pereira said:

There's a topic here where this was explained by someone on "How it could be?" but don't remember... a year or two ago...

It was a complete surprise to me and now I can't remember the explanation of how it could be done.

Anyone here remembers or know the explanation (think it reads some/different then jumps A8 or C64...)?

 

 

my guess is if the A8 and C64 drives look in different areas of the disk for boot sectors, then the portion of the disk that is used by the other OS could be made to look unformatted and/or unreadible and therefore ignored.

[Rybags]

C64 doesn't allow booting a disk.

Atari needs the first sector as a minimum, the rest is optional.

So in theory it should be reasonably easy to produce a dual format disk (I posted in that other thread also)

 

But the economics might not be there, and flippy makes more sense.  Dual format would mean you lose around half the capacity of the side.

I have to wonder though if there were any Amiga/ST dual format disks.

Likely they need the same sector to boot, but the ST also has the autorun feature, or you can just click/run from the GUI.

Early Amiga can read ST/PC formatted disks with a fairly small addon program.

[tjlazer]

I use to have a bunch back in the day, when I had my 130XE.  It was cool because later when I also got a C64 I had some software to run!  One of my first disks was Bruce Lee from Datasoft.  Had both Atari and C64 on each side.  I've been collecting some of these flippy disks over the years.

[zzip]

On 12/21/2023 at 7:40 PM, Rybags said:

C64 doesn't allow booting a disk.

True,  but I imagine the drive must have a way to determine where the first sector is?  and if it encountered Atari data, it likely wouldn't know how to read it.

 

On 12/21/2023 at 7:40 PM, Rybags said:

I have to wonder though if there were any Amiga/ST dual format disks.

Likely they need the same sector to boot, but the ST also has the autorun feature, or you can just click/run from the GUI.

Yes, my Starglider II disk has dual Amiga/ST.   I believe it was boot sector load on ST or  maybe autorun,  not loaded from GEM