Bally Astrocade: Should I, or shouldn't I?

[BassGuitari]

I am intrigued by the Bally Astrocade system, and I'm thinking about getting one. Now my question for those who own one: is it worth it? Does it have enough good games to make it worth having?

 

Also, what is the quality of these units? If I understand correctly the bottom of the console needs a lot of ventilation or the system will overheat and the components will fry, but I don't know of any of kind of special treatment it needs.

[Rob Mitchell]

I am intrigued by the Bally Astrocade system, and I'm thinking about getting one. Now my question for those who own one: is it worth it? Does it have enough good games to make it worth having?

 

I like it! Cool controllers, Storage for games built into the console, Built-in games: Gunfight is perfect! Up to four person version of Surround. Other games: Dogpatch is great! The Incredible Wizard was programmed by the same guy who did the arcade version of Wizard of Wor. Galactic Invasion (Galaxians) is good. Muncher (pac-man) is great and the sound is dead on! The rest of the games are ok. The system is unique in that you can swap carts without having to off the system. Just change carts and hit reset.

 

Also, what is the quality of these units? If I understand correctly the bottom of the console needs a lot of ventilation or the system will overheat and the components will fry, but I don't know of any of kind of special treatment it needs.

 

You should never use the console while it is on a carpet. It will definitely overheat. First sign is that the pic goes black & white. Turn it off immediately and not on until cooled down. I always prop the console up on some carts to get some height .. no matter what surface it is on. You gotta be careful with the adapter which is four wire and hard wired to the console. You don't want to break that sucker. Make sure that the system is off and unplugged when not in use. The on/off switch is in the back so you gotta make sure it is off.

 

If the 1977 designed Bally/Astrocade were better made to deal with the overheating that plagued the system .. and it was made with a full keyboard like the Magnavox Odyssey 2 .. then we all might be using Bally/Astrocade compatible PCs today ... and Atari would have died earlier in its life.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[christianscott27]

its really the odd man out in classic console collecting, somewhere beyond the odyssey and channel F, just slightly more popular than the RCA studio II. its obvious the astrocade had its fans, theres a whole world of user created programs and newsletters. if you do get one get the special basic cartridge to take advantage of those features. the games on cart/tapes are decent for the time but nothing too amazing and yes it has to be the worst system in terms of finding/keeping it working. i guess i'm really down on the astrocade because its just not a good system for finds, in all my collecting years i have never ever seen even a scrap of bally stuff in the wild. i got lucky on ebay and scored nearly every cart in one fell swoop, i spent two afternoons playing with it and then shelved it. if you're looking for a system just to have fun with i'd say pass on it, if its for your personal museum...get it.

[BassGuitari]

Thanks for the information dudes! I'd like to get an Astrocade eventually, but for the time being I'm trying to get working Channel F II.

 

I find an outstanding deal on one, though, it's mine

 

How is the BASIC program on the Bally system? The keyboard on the computer unit doesn't look much easier to use than the Keyboards of the Atari VCS...and can it support more than 9 lines of code? I'm not a programmer so I suppose it really doesn't matter, but I like to tinker around with that stuff from time to time.

[Vic George 2K3]

I would've wanted to own an Astrocade/Bally Professional Arcade if only for games like Galactic Invasion and The Incredible Wizard.

[bcostin]

I found an Astrocade and a couple cartridges a few years ago at a yard sale for a couple bucks. Unfortunately the previous owner apparently let the unit overheat, and it's not very reliable anymore. It is a neat little system though, and I was impressed by the quality of the games I tried. It may not have been the most popular system but properly marketed it may have had a future. If I found a working unit and some additional carts in the wild at a good price I'd be tempted, but for now I'm content with emulation via MESS.

[Rob Mitchell]

How is the BASIC program on the Bally system? The keyboard on the computer unit doesn't look much easier to use than the Keyboards of the Atari VCS...and can it support more than 9 lines of code? I'm not a programmer so I suppose it really doesn't matter, but I like to tinker around with that stuff from time to time.

 

You can do alot with the BASIC cart .. but who really wants to? You can work to save your programs on cassette or WAV files. But you are talking of doing things like the late 1970s.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Rob Mitchell]

Check out this cool Bally Astrocade on eBay! It is dressed up with Blue LEDs!

 

BLUE LED ASTROCADE

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[glitch]

I absolutly love mine but it was also my first real console (and computer ) so I'm probably a bit biased. The controllers are some of the best I've played w/ and contain a joystick, paddle knob, and trigger all in one easy to hold & use unit. A good portion of the games utilize all 3 controls at the same time. The bally still has one of my favorite versions of football, especially 4 player. The other games that were mentioned were excellent also. Unlike the 2600 each cart contained only 1 version of the game w/ multiple difficulty levels so Space Invaders doesn't have umteen versions w/ invisible & sideways invaders or anything like that for that reason a lot of the games seem simple compared to the 2600 but they are all colorful, smooth, and well made.

 

My list of games that are a must have would be:

Galactic Invasion (Galaxian)

Incredible Wizard (Wizard of Wor)

Football

Amazing Maze/Tic-Tac-Toe (you can skip tic-tac-toe)

Dog Patch

Artilery Duel

Bally Basic or Astrocade Basic (astrocade has a built in i/o jack)

Space Fortress (very basic but semi addictive)

Space Invaders (aka Astro Battle)

Muncher (pac-man)

Solar Conqueror

 

Good games:

Bally Pin

Blackjack, Poker, Acey-Deucey

Cosmic Raiders

Panzer Attack and Red Baron (2600 combat is better though)

Sea Wolf/Missile

Tornado Baseball, Tennis, Hockey and Handball (Baseball is the only one worth it here. The others are Pong variations)

Clowns/Brickyard

 

Games to stay away from except for collecting

280 Zzzap and Dogem (2600 night driver, fun for a very short time)

Elemenatry Math and Bingo Math

Star Battle (had a lot of fun w/ this one but gets old quickly)

Pirates Chase

Letter Match/Score

Biorythem (not really a gaime)

Grand Prix/Demolition Derby (again fun for a very short time)

Ms Candyman (good luck finding it anyways)

 

 

How is the BASIC program on the Bally system? The keyboard on the computer unit doesn't look much easier to use than the Keyboards of the Atari VCS...and can it support more than 9 lines of code? I'm not a programmer so I suppose it really doesn't matter, but I like to tinker around with that stuff from time to time.

The base unit can hold 1.8k of code. The astrocade version of tiny basic made good use of this by making all key commands (i.e. print, box, gosub, goto, etc) a single byte. You still need to utilize very tight programming constraints to fit anything into it though (good habit to get into anyways). Like I mentioned before the Bally was my first system and the coding was extremely easy so I really enjoyed it. I attest the Bally to being one of the main reasons I'm a software engineer now. If you get one and want to work on coding it I recommend going over to Bally Ally and getting copies of some of the Arcadian or Cursor newsletters. Each issue had numerous games & progs that others submitted. It's fairly impressive what they managed to do w/ such a limited amount of ram. The keypad takes a bit of getting used to. Each key has 5 functions specified by prepressing a color key so the number 1 would be just pressing 1, A would be pressing Blue-1, B would be red-1, RUN would be gold(word)-1. The did make a few add-ons for it but I have yet to see any of them for sale anywhere. I have the Blue-Ram memory expansion that adds 4k more (up to 32k) and a true keyboard add-on that plugs into it as well as a new blue-ram basic that shrinks the screen font to be able see more & adds a few more commands such as CIRCLE.

[Jess Ragan]

I personally think that the Astrocade is an above average classic game system. It's not exceptional, like the Intellivision, 2600, or Vectrex, but at the same time, it's nowhere near as awful as the Emerson Arcadia or the Microvision.

 

It did bring some pretty cool ideas to the table back in the late 1970's, like the joystick that doubles as a paddle and verbose menus that allow you to select the games you wish to play without consulting an instruction manual. You don't even need to enter commands on the console itself to select your options... you can just dial them in with the paddle built into the joystick! The Astrocade is also capable of cranking out some pretty cool sound effects... aside from the voice effects, The Incredible Wizard sounds exactly like its arcade counterpart, Wizard of Wor.

 

At the same time, the Astrocade has a limited software library (although there are a few Bally-licensed arcade games that are worth checking out), and the graphics are blocky even by Intellivision standards. Finally, it's more difficult to find in the wild than other classic game systems. If you're a collector who's got to have everything, or just love all those older Bally arcade games, I'd say go for it. If not, invest that money in some Vectrex homebrews instead.

 

You'll find more information about the Bally Astrocade on my web site:

 

http://grblitz.overclocked.org/bally.htm

 

JR

[Rob Mitchell]

A good portion of the games utilize all 3 controls at the same time.

 

Ok .. Which games use all three functions (stick,paddle,trigger) at the same time?

 

Gunfight, Tornado Baseball, Biorythm, Scribbling, maybe Football, others?

 

Bally Alley has a new look and recent update!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[glitch]

[quote name="Rob MitchellOk .. Which games use all three functions (stick' date='paddle,trigger) at the same time?

 

Gunfight, Tornado Baseball, Biorythm, Scribbling, maybe Football, others?

[/quote]

Footbal is a definate, you use the knob to control the QBs arm

 

I'll have to go look but in addition to the 5 you listed there is also

Blackjack/poker/acey duecy

Red Baron

Missile

Conan

I think Artillery Duel but I'm not 100% sure on this one

 

So that would be at least 10 games that utilize all 3 controls, since the whole library is only about 30-40 games I consider that a good portion.

[mos6507]

It should be noted that there is now a way to author Bally Basic programs on the PC and then send them to the Bally via audio.

 

http://www.atari2600collector.com/bally_bi...file_format.htm

[keilbaca]

Here is an idea for you guys, that should work really well with the bally astrocade. Get a laptop cooler. What it does, you sit the astrocade on top of the cooler, the cooler is a small stand, hollow center (so air can get in) and fans blowing in or out of the cooler (so fans can cool the inside of the astrocade).