Indy 500 is such an awesome game!

[KAZ]

Being this is my 500th post, I thought nothing could be finer than mentioning this great game.

 

So without further delay, let's marvel at this game:

 

 

It says something like 1-4 RACE CARS

 

Excellent, and what's this, even MORE to the program?

 

5-8 CRASH N' SCORE ?

 

Race cars wasn't trademarked, so this must be even better!

 

9-10 TAG , absolute perfection, finer than magnificent!

 

And finally,

11-14 ICE RACE

 

So many variations, and a number such as CX-2611

 

Can anything be so great?

 

Oh art thou Indy 500, all other car games do not approach your excellence!

 

 

 

and omigod, 11 indy 500

 

Lowercase indy, certainly they should've provided all caps for the end label, but they were just being modest. They know that their creation was the finest of the fine race games!!

 

:shock: :oops: :cry: :wink:

 

 

 

 

 

INDY 500!!

[Nukey Shay]

All games that come close to an authentic arcade game will always be very close to me...and this one is no exception. The only thing missing is a manual transmission

[tiggerthehun]

And Kaz, you forgot to mention my fav. feature... Where else, I ask, could one find himself racing along the "Devil's Elbow". Ah Atari - where do you get those wonderful names? So, where's the "Devil's Spleen" hack...

[tiggerthehun]

(In case you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, "Devil's Elbow" is the name Atari gave that "tough cornering" course.)

[Albert]

Yes, I love Indy 500 also. It's a great multiplayer game! I was amused at your notice of the trademark ™ symbols, and went and had a look at the cartridge myself. Funny to see how they trademarked the word "TAG".

 

..Al

[tiggerthehun]

Funny to see how they trademarked the word "TAG".

 

Ah, so that explains why we had to pay a royalty fee to Atari back in the days of "recess".

And why we later changed the name to "That game where you move horizontallly, vertically or diagonally to avoid contact with the one who has most recently been termed 'it' "

[Scott Stilphen]

I did some work on trying to modify this. I first made the cars smaller. Then I tried to change the track layouts. I soon found that the graphics for the different tracks are not seperate, but are "reused" in different areas. So far I've managed to make the Devil's Elbow track a bit different. Here's the bin version I have so far.

[Albert]

I did some work on trying to modify this.  I first made the cars smaller.  Then I tried to change the track layouts.  I soon found that the graphics for the different tracks are not seperate, but are "reused" in different areas.  So far I've managed to make the Devil's Elbow track a bit different.  Here's the bin version I have so far.

 

Cool, let me know when you're finished tweaking it and I'll post it here! I still have the other hack you sent me, and plan on putting several hacks online this weekend.

 

..Al

[slapdash]

This was definitely a favorite multiplayer game when I was a kid. We didn't have Warlords, and I don't know if it would have mattered.

[FABombjoy]

Incidentally, Indy 500 makes a great 'drinking' Atari game too... Hmmm... this sounds like a top-10 list waiting to happen.

[Curt Vendel]

Indy 500 is a lot of fun, I like Maze Craze a lot, I always thought that game and Slot Racers were so much fun. Even Atari's very early 2600 released were plain and simple great games.

 

 

 

Curt

[Rob Mitchell]

Indy 500 (Sears Race) is one of the best of the first 7 carts for the

Atari VCS (Sears Video Arcade) in 1977. It brought home the Atari arcade hit home .. Plus let us play steering games that reminded me of Exidy's Death Race.

 

Dad and I gleefully paid $40 for Sears Race in 1977 .. double what was paid for the other introductory carts then .. because of the pack-in pair of driving controllers. I remember experimenting with them .. trying to see how they worked with the Combat (Tank Plus) cart.

 

Of course the driving controllers were probably a result of the arcade design. And Atari had the lead there .. Other home console designers used the joystick to steer in their driving games (UGH!). So it is unfortunate that Atari would never design another 2600 game to use the controllers. Sprintmaster was designed after the Atari Indy arcade .. but everyone knows that a joystick is not the way to steer a driving game. Even though Thomas hacked the control of Sprintmaster to use the DCs, it doesn't have the 16 angles of steering that Indy 500 has .. so it doesn't feel right (like Indy 500 does).

 

Continuing my curiosity about the DC .. I took one apart .. more complicated than I could figure out .. the circuit board consists of spirals of contacts .. where one stops, another begins at a different radius. I looked at Atari sites .. and none described what was going on here .. Kevin Horton and others mentioned Quadratrue signals .. and I learned that the DC is a low resolution Quadrature encoder .. and the Indy 500 program does Quadrature decoding. Other sites described what Quadrature encoding is .. and I looked for circuits that could decode and put out a left or right signal in response. I learned that A leads B in transition means turning one direction and B leads A in transition when turning the other direction. I finally got to see what was happening when I plugged the DC into the Vectrex running the Test Cart program!! As a result of this discovery, Chris Tumber is releasing new Vectrex games that use the DC. Independently Thomas is hacking old games to use the DC. And Glenn Saunders and I are planning home ports of Death Race for the 2600 and Vectrex respectively.

 

Q: Just who figured out that the DC works with the Jaguar Tempest?

 

Some time in the mid 1980s I went with a family to ChuckeCheeze .. and checked out the games .. and fun! One of the kid videogames was a kid console of Indy 500! Built-in seat, big steering wheel, foot pedal, and game one set for one player. I wish I had played it then and there!

 

whew! that's all I can write about a 25 year obsession with Indy 500 and the driving controllers.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[El Destructo]

I occasionally help a sculptor friend create interactive artworks. On our last collaboration, he brought me a design for two tall, plush pillars with colorful fur. When visitors turned the pillars, he wanted a music-box like tune to play.

 

So, he needed a rotary knob that was easily available, low-cost and rugged.

 

My solution? Atari Driving Controllers!

 

We disassembled two controllers, attached them to the bases of the rotating pillars, and connected the plugs to a special interface box that let his Mac sense the knob turning.

 

The driving controller works like this:

 

The knob turns a disc with holes punched into it. Two switches are mounted on the ring, each of which close when a hole moves between it. The holes are arranged so that the open-close pattern for the two switches is different depending on which way you rotate the knob.

 

If you take a switch to be 1's place, and the other switch to be 2's place, you get something like:

 

Left: 0 2 3 1 0 2 3 1 etc.

 

Right: 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 0 etc.

 

This arrangement allows you to sense movement, speed and direction to a very fine degree.

 

Ever since then, I have tried to sneak Atari technology into every art project I am involved in.

[Rob Mitchell]

If you take a switch to be 1's place, and the other switch to be 2's place, you get something like:

 

Left: 0 2 3 1 0 2 3 1 etc.

 

Right: 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 0 etc.

 

This arrangement allows you to sense movement, speed and direction to a very fine degree.

 

Ever since then, I have tried to sneak Atari technology into every art project I am involved in.  

 

Cool! That's what is called quadrature encoding/decoding!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[somePUNK]

being a race fan can't help it guys dads a bodyman i love indy 500 none better

[Rob Mitchell]

Slightly off topic .. but not really ..

 

Christopher Tumber has released his Tsunami game (Tempest) for the Vectrex. It can use the Indy 500 Driving Controller as a spinner! Very cool.

 

Also being released is his Spinnerama multicart for the Vectrex. It consists of a bunch of hacked Vectrex games that use the Driving Controller also. Most notable is his update of Omega Chase (Omega Race) that uses the spinner. Thomas did similar hacks for several Atari 2600 games too.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

(dreaming of new uses for the Driving Controller since 1977!)

[davidbrit2]

What's this talk of the Driving Controllers working with Tempest on the Jaguar? That would be awesome. Does one just need to build a little 9 to 15 pin adapter, or something?

[KAZ]

Funny to see how they trademarked the word "TAG".  

 

Ah, so that explains why we had to pay a royalty fee to Atari back in the days of "recess".

And why we later changed the name to "That game where you move horizontallly, vertically or diagonally to avoid contact with the one who has most recently been termed 'it' "

 

Reminds me of "the artist formerly known as Prince".

 

ET should be renamed to "that suckass game formerly known as shitty, but now is lore, but still sux, and it is buried in a cement tomb created for it because of its former suckhood"

[Atari-Jess]

i need indy 500 ive had the controllers for months now...

[+Cafeman]

I have the game, but alas, no driving controllers.

[Albert]

Christopher Tumber has released his Tsunami game (Tempest) for the Vectrex.  It can use the Indy 500 Driving Controller as a spinner!  Very cool.  

 

Excellent, I need to get my hands on this. I also need to dig some driving controlleres out of my basement. I can see these driving controllers becoming scarce, as well as more expensive one eBay. Especially if people keep dreaming up new uses for them!

 

..Al

[Rob Mitchell]

What's this talk of the Driving Controllers working with Tempest on the Jaguar?

 

This is true .. and the only setup I have seen has the spinner from a Driving Controller built into a jag controller .. As far as a connector for the Driving controller: it only uses four pins: 1/2 for quad signals, 6/8 for fire/ground.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA