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slaanesh beginner
Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:33 am Post subject: Atari 800XL |
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I recently unprisoned my Atari 800XL I had imprisoned in my cupboard for many years. I have three cartridge games for it which I played in the following order:
Defender. Wow! This is utterly awesome! It has simple yet functional graphics and plays even better than the arcade version. I love it. Played it with my wife for about an hour and a half. She also enjoyed it
Pacman. Hmmm.. It's okay - it's Pacman. Whilst it's a good version (albeit a landscape version of the portrait original) it just wasn't as gripping as Defender. It's all a different pace. Perhaps not the best game to play after Defender.
Star Raiders. I kept dying at first - the I read the instructions and found the vital 'shield' key (and the rest of the controls). Wow! For a game which is out in 1979 this is superb! It must have been very scary indeed compared to the likes of the the more simple games around at that time. I played it on 'beginner' mode and finished the mission. Can't wait to play another round of this at the next level.
Now that i've whetted my appetite for Atari games I can't get enough. I'm currently buying up on eBay and want to gather a few more classics: River Raid, Centipede, Missile Command (with Trakball), Eastern Front 1941, Pole Position, Ball Blazer, Star Raiders II, Joust, Archon, Frogger, Asteroids and Galaxian. |
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retrobrad Administrator
Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 1039 Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject: Re: Atari 800XL |
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slaanesh wrote: |
I recently unprisoned my Atari 800XL I had imprisoned in my cupboard for many years. I have three cartridge games for it which I played in the following order:
Defender. Wow! This is utterly awesome! It has simple yet functional graphics and plays even better than the arcade version. I love it. Played it with my wife for about an hour and a half. She also enjoyed it
Pacman. Hmmm.. It's okay - it's Pacman. Whilst it's a good version (albeit a landscape version of the portrait original) it just wasn't as gripping as Defender. It's all a different pace. Perhaps not the best game to play after Defender.
Star Raiders. I kept dying at first - the I read the instructions and found the vital 'shield' key (and the rest of the controls). Wow! For a game which is out in 1979 this is superb! It must have been very scary indeed compared to the likes of the the more simple games around at that time. I played it on 'beginner' mode and finished the mission. Can't wait to play another round of this at the next level.
Now that i've whetted my appetite for Atari games I can't get enough. I'm currently buying up on eBay and want to gather a few more classics: River Raid, Centipede, Missile Command (with Trakball), Eastern Front 1941, Pole Position, Ball Blazer, Star Raiders II, Joust, Archon, Frogger, Asteroids and Galaxian. |
the 800xl is a great system, which i think is underrated as a games machine. i remember buying one (i think from ebay???)
anyway, i got it for dirt cheap and when it arrived, i opened up the cartridge cover to find it had two cartridges inside! it's great when you get bonuses that you didn't know were there
ive got about 14 cartridges, and wouldnt mind getting some more for it. |
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slaanesh beginner
Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like you actually have an Atari 800 (not XL) as these had hoods.
I'm actually wanting to get an Atari 800 (boxed, I love all the stuff that comes with them) and I particularly like the idea of 4 joystick ports.
There's also something disturbingly familar about the chunky Atari 800 case - I think it reminds me of my old High School's Apple ][e's that I used to use. |
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retrobrad Administrator
Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 1039 Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:11 am Post subject: |
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slaanesh wrote: |
Sounds like you actually have an Atari 800 (not XL) as these had hoods.
I'm actually wanting to get an Atari 800 (boxed, I love all the stuff that comes with them) and I particularly like the idea of 4 joystick ports.
There's also something disturbingly familar about the chunky Atari 800 case - I think it reminds me of my old High School's Apple ][e's that I used to use. |
yep you're right, its not the XL! and i know exactly what you mean about it looking like the apple ][e |
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Rybags beginner
Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Posts: 26
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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Forget eBay unless you want originals for the collector's value.
Make your own APE interface, or you can buy one http://www.atarimax.com
Then, you can just use the PC (via an RS-232 port) to emulate Atari peripherals like the 1050 drive.
Just about every commercial title (esp games) is now available to download. Most software for 8-bit machines has been abandonware for some time.
Download just about every game from:
http://www.atarimania.com/accueil_8bit-MENU-8.html
http://vjetnam.hopto.org/ |
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retrobrad Administrator
Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 1039 Location: NSW, Australia
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:55 am Post subject: |
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Rybags wrote: |
Forget eBay unless you want originals for the collector's value.
Make your own APE interface, or you can buy one http://www.atarimax.com
Then, you can just use the PC (via an RS-232 port) to emulate Atari peripherals like the 1050 drive.
Just about every commercial title (esp games) is now available to download. Most software for 8-bit machines has been abandonware for some time.
Download just about every game from:
http://www.atarimania.com/accueil_8bit-MENU-8.html
http://vjetnam.hopto.org/ |
You can do the same sort of thing with the commodore 64 too! |
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