Homebrews for 7800?

[AtariLeaf]

I was browsing the Atariage store and looking through the different homebrews for the 2600, 5200, even the 8-bit now has castle crisis. Just wondering if there are any developers working on either hacks or original games for the 7800. I would think that there would be some great possibilities for games on that system, or is it much harder to program for?

 

PS - on a side note, will the 5200 Jr. Pacman be ported over to an 8-bit cart like castle crisis?

(I know, the PS is in the wrong forum, just thought of it now)

[DracIsBack]

There are a couple of issues with 7800 development which have generally delayed the emulation of the system and also the development of homebrew games.

 

First, it had that nasty validation key which stopped emulation and development dead in its tracks until a couple of years ago.

 

Second, because it was conceived in the Warner era but marketed during the Tramiel era, there isn't the same degree of documentation available.

 

The 2600 was so popular that people share information constantly. The 5200 architecture is similar to the Atari 8-bit computer architecture and also well documented as a result - even though it was a much less popular system. Also, 5200 owners are a fiercely loyal bunch.

 

The Jaguar and (to a lesser extent) Lynx were born in the "internet era" so a lot of the dev information was filtered around while the systems were alive via the net. And, for the first time, people could talk with official developers AS GAMES WERE BEING CREATED when the systems were alive!

 

So then there's the 7800:

 

Not really all that popular.

 

Has a really unique architecture that's (in many ways) unlike the other systems that Atari put out.

 

It has a funky validation mechanism

 

It was born, lived and died before the Internet really became used by many.

 

 

When it comes to the 7800, everything follows the other Atari systems.

 

That said, there are now emulators in development.

 

I know of at least two homebrews as well.

 

Also, there's a dev mailing list.

 

And there are some demos done by people on this forum.

 

Things are changing. And with the Cuttle Cart and the emulators, they could change even more!

[AtariLeaf]

Thanks for the info. I was wondering if what some kind of technical roadblock.

[atari_wizard]

i wouldn't mind seeing one for dark chambers or food fight.