Jump to content
IGNORED

Can I play XE carts on an XL computer?


Atari Scorpio

Recommended Posts

Title says all.

 

Thanks

995240[/snapback]

 

I was going to answer "No" just to be difficult. :)

 

Truth is, the only limitation I have run across for all the systems on all professionally developed and released cartridges is memory. An Atari 800 (my fav) has 48K of memory, which works on most cartridges. However, there were some games of the XE cartridge line that the 800 with 48K cannont play since they called for more than 48K.

 

Most cartridges probably had the XEGS (with 64K) in mind. All XL's (and 600xl's that are upgraded in memory) have 64K, so most if not all cartridges should work, unless the cartridge, for whatever reason, calls for more than 64K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

which of the XE carts required 64k ?

 

Ace of Aces

Dark Chambers

David's Midnight Magic

Desert Falcon

Fight Night

Food Fight

Gato

Hardball

Lode Runner

One on One

 

I think that's it.

995762[/snapback]

 

One on One, Hardball, Lode Runner and Dacid's midnight magic? That cant be right! All those games are avail on disk and work on a standard 800.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

which of the XE carts required 64k ?

 

Ace of Aces

Dark Chambers

David's Midnight Magic

Desert Falcon

Fight Night

Food Fight

Gato

Hardball

Lode Runner

One on One

 

I think that's it.

995762[/snapback]

 

One on One, Hardball, Lode Runner and Dacid's midnight magic? That cant be right! All those games are avail on disk and work on a standard 800.

995832[/snapback]

 

 

And don't forget Bruce Lee.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One on One, Hardball, Lode Runner and Dacid's midnight magic?  That cant be right!  All those games are avail on disk and work on a standard 800.

995832[/snapback]

They had to be modified to run from the XE cartridges, though, and it's possible that this might have somehow changed their memory requirements. I've got Lode Runner and David's Midnight Magic on cartridge but have only tried them on the XEGS; I'll have to try them on my 800 the next time I have it set up.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One on One, Hardball, Lode Runner and Dacid's midnight magic?   That cant be right!  All those games are avail on disk and work on a standard 800.

995832[/snapback]

They had to be modified to run from the XE cartridges, though, and it's possible that this might have somehow changed their memory requirements.

 

What probably happened is actually the "opposite", that the memory requirements didn't change. Those game required 48k of RAM at the disk version. And possibly they still require about the same amount on cartridge. The difference is that with the cartridge inserted, the machine now has less RAM.

 

So perhaps the extra "under the ROM" RAM is needed to compensate for the lack of RAM at the cart. space.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What probably happened is actually the "opposite", that the memory requirements didn't change. Those game required 48k of RAM at the disk version. And possibly they still require about the same amount on cartridge. The difference is that with the cartridge inserted, the machine now has less RAM.

 

So perhaps the extra "under the ROM" RAM is needed to compensate for the lack of RAM at the cart. space.

997672[/snapback]

That's a good possibility.

 

I'd love to know what was involved in getting these disk-based games running from the cartridge to begin with. I noticed on the Lode Runner cartridge's title screen that Atari added a developer credit for Chuck Peavey, which makes me think that the game required extensive reworking to run from the cartridge (understandable since it originally loaded new levels from the disk). However, other games (like Archon) don't seem to have been changed much at all. Did Atari have access to the original source code for these games, or did they have to reverse-engineer them?

 

When I have time to do more A8 programming, I might want to try my hand at converting disk-based games to cartridge myself. I wish Atari had released more disk-to-cartridge conversions; I've always liked dedicated cartridges better than disks or multi-carts.

Edited by jaybird3rd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...